Adjuvant Therapy of Stage II and III Colon Cancer

Up to 50% of patients who undergo curative resection for colon cancer relapse and ultimately die of metastatic disease. Adjuvant chemotherapy given after surgery reduces the risk of disease recurrence in patients with stage II/III disease, and considerable progress of adjuvant chemotherapy in these patients has been reported. Clinical studies evaluating chemotherapy regimens continue, as do trials that use specific, molecularly targeted agents that have shown promising results in patients with advanced colon cancer. Ongoing important issues to be addressed relate to the optimal schedule and/or choice of chemotherapeutic regimens, and the efficacy of the combination of molecular agents with conventional chemotherapy.