Glucose variations and their impact on the treatment response in advanced colorectal cancer

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Serum glucose is commonly associated with a bad clinical prognosis in many diseases, including colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the real impact of glucose variation (GV) on the treatment and prognosis of CRC patients is unknown. Due to the absence of information, this study aimed to correlate GV and treatment response in advanced CRC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-eight CRC patients with stage III and IV disease were studied. The selected ones were those who have had two consecutive computed-tomography scans and more than one serum glucose (SG) test between the CT scans, which left 19 people of the original group. RESULTS: The mean age of the 19 analyzed subjects was 58.6 years SD=18.26; CI 95% 50.9-71.0. Most of the patients were men (59%), with Wilt-Type KRAS mutation (63.2%), without metastasis (71%) and at a clinical stage III (73.3%). No statistically significant value was found (p=0.126) between GV and treatment response in advanced CRC patients. CONCLUSION: These findings cannot indicate a direct association between GV and treatment response in advanced CRC patient, but open space for evaluation of new methods of handling glucose variations in attempt to get a better understanding about how glucose may influence the CRC prognosis.