T. Nakamura et al., Optimal duration of oral adjuvant chemotherapy with Carmofur in the colorectal cancer patients: the Kansai Carmofur Study Group trial III, INT J ONCOL, 19(2), 2001, pp. 291-298
A multi-institutional study was performed to evaluate the appropriate durat
ion of oral administration of Carmofur (1-hexylcarbamoyl-5-fluorouracil, HC
FU), a 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) derivative, for postoperative adjuvant chemoth
erapy in patients with colorectal cancer undergoing curative operation. Pat
ients were divided into two: i) short duration group receiving 6 months of
HCFU administration and ii) long duration group receiving 1 year of the adm
inistration, using a centralized registration system. Among 364 patients en
tered in this study, 293 evaluable cases were analyzed to investigate the a
ppropriate duration of adjuvant oral chemotherapy. No statistical differenc
es were found in the cumulative 5-year disease-free or survival rates betwe
en the groups. However, the actual duration of oral HCFU administration dif
fered in the patients of short and long duration groups from the protocol.
Namely, more than 70% of the patients received a different duration of oral
adjuvant chemotherapy in each of the groups, Therefore, apart from this di
vision of two groups, correlation between the actual duration of oral HCFU
administration and the prognosis was examined in these patients. As a resul
t, it was suggested that oral adjuvant chemotherapy with HCFU would be effe
ctive in colon cancer patients when the duration of administration exceeded
330 days. In rectal cancer patients, however, adjuvant chemotherapy with H
CFU alone was considered to be not sufficient to affect the prognosis.