Enhancement of radiation-induced downstaging of rectal cancer by fluorouracil and high-dose leucovorin chemotherapy.
- 1 January 1992
- journal article
- abstracts
- Published by American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Journal of Clinical Oncology
- Vol. 10 (1) , 79-84
- https://doi.org/10.1200/jco.1992.10.1.79
Abstract
PURPOSETo determine if fluorouracil (5-FU) plus high-dose leucovorin (LV) enhances local response in patients receiving preoperative radiation therapy (RT) for adenocarcinoma of the rectum, we compared the degree of downstaging in patients receiving preoperative RT with or without chemotherapy.PATIENTS AND METHODSFor this comparison, three groups of patients who were treated with identical doses and techniques of preoperative pelvic RT (total dose of 5,040 cGy) were examined. Group 1 included 20 patients with unresectable disease who received combined RT and LV/5-FU. Group 2 included 11 patients with unresectable disease who received preoperative RT. Group 3 included 21 patients with invasive, resectable, primary disease who received preoperative RT.RESULTSPatients with unresectable disease who received LV/5-FU had a higher rate of pathologic complete response (20% v 0%) and a lower incidence of positive nodes (30% v 64%) compared with those who did not receive chemotherapy. Even when the most favorable g...Keywords
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