In continuation of my update on Oxaliplatin
Adding oxaliplatin to a standard chemotherapy regimen boosts survival rates for patients with advanced colon cancer, according to a new study that bolsters previous research on the drug by looking at a broader group of patients.
In past studies, oxaliplatin, as an adjuvant to the established
treatment of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), improved survival by up to 23
percent. But the new study looked at a different group of colon cancer
patients, who were older, sicker, more racially diverse and had never
participated in a controlled clinical study.
To determine whether oxaliplatin would show a similar benefit among a
"real-world" population of patients, the authors sifted through five
cancer registries containing survival information on more than 4,000
people with stage 3 colon cancer. All were younger than 75, and all had
begun chemotherapy -- either a standard regimen or in combination with
oxaliplatin -- within four months of having surgery between 2004 and
2009.
Researchers lead by Dr.Hanna K. Sanoff compared their survival rates with those of nearly 8,300
patients who had participated in one of five different clinical trials
using oxaliplatin.
The addition of oxaliplatin to standard chemotherapy protocols was
found to be just as effective in prolonging survival among the
community-based set of patients - including the elderly, minorities and
those with additional complicating health issues who were not
enrolled in studies.
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