Study: Chemotherapy Effective for Older Colon Cancer Patients

Chemotherapy is a safe and effective therapy for older colon cancer patients, according to a study reported in the April issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

While colorectal cancer is the leading cause of cancer for women over the age of 75, older patients receive chemotherapy less often than younger patients regardless of the disease stage, and frequently do not receive what is considered to be standard chemotherapy.

Using previous studies that compared chemotherapy with surgery alone, University of Nebraska Medical Center researchers examined the data for 3,261 patients with either stage II or stage III colon cancer.

Chemotherapy had a significant positive effect on overall survival and on preventing recurrence of cancer. The five-year overall survival was 71 percent for those who received chemotherapy, compared with 64 percent of those who did not. The five-year recurrence-free rate was 69 percent for patients treated with chemotherapy, compared with 58 percent for those not treated.

No significant differences were observed between the ages of the patients and the effectiveness of chemotherapy treatment.

"There is no evidence that the susceptibility of colon cancer to chemotherapy differs in younger and older patients," concluded the researcher, who also noted that older patients did not have higher rates of nausea, vomiting, stomatitis, or diarrhea than younger patients.

Other Sources: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society