Monthly 5-days 5-fluorouracil and low-dose leucovorin for adjuvant chemotherapy in colon cancer

We investigated the dose-related effect of the 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)/leucov orin regimen on survival in 139 colon cancer patients with Dukes' B2 and C2 stage disease. Chemotherapy consisted of 400 mg/m(2) of 5-FU and 20 mg/m(2 ) of leucovorin injected daily for 5 days in every 4 weeks for a maximum of 12 cycles. The total dose of 5-FU administered per body surface area had a significant effect on the 5-year disease-free survival and 5-year overall survival in stage B2 and C2 colon cancer patients (P = 0.0018, P = 0.0011), Analysis with reference to the median DSDI demonstrated that there was a s ignificant difference in 5-year survival in Dukes' C2 (P = 0.0016), but sur vival was not affected by the dose intensity. Multivariate analysis demonst rated that only the total dose of 5-FU administered per surface area affect ed the 5-year disease-free survival and 5-year overall survival (P = 0.0016 , P = 0.0007, respectively), It can be concluded that the total dose of 5-F U administered is important in planned dosage schedule of adjuvant chemothe rapy in colon cancer. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd, All rights res erved.