Preliminary results of postoperative adjuvant treatment with tamoxifen in colorectal cancer

Abstract

To investigate estrogen receptor (ER) expression and the effects of anti-estrogen therapy on the prognosis of colorectal carcinoma. ER was measured in fresh colorectal cancer tissues by Dextran-coated charcoal (DCC) assay. The relationships between ER expression and clinicopathological parameters in colorectal cancer were analyzed. Tamoxifen was administrated postoperatively as adjuvant treatment. The positive rate of ER in colorectal tumor tissues was 37.0%. The 5-year survival rates of tamoxifen group and control group were 66.7% and 72.5% respectively, and there was no significant difference between the two groups. The distant metastasis rate of Tamoxifen group was significantly lower than that of control group (3% versus 20%). Some colorectal carcinomas are hormone-dependent tumors, and anti-estrogen therapy has no effect on them.