Preoperative chemoradiation in rectal cancer: Retrospective comparison between capecitabine and continuous infusion of 5‐fluorouracil

Abstract

Preoperative chemoradiation with oral capecitabine appears to be safe and well tolerated, and at least as good as continuous 5-FU.

Randomized phase 3 trial comparing preoperative and postoperative chemoradiotherapy with capecitabine for locally advanced rectal cancer

“…In the current trial, even though we performed meticulous pathologic examination described previously, 11 our ypCR rate or other histologic parameters were comparable with other studies that used capecitabine, [16][17][18][23][24][25][26] and our ypCR rate was higher than that of the German trial (17% vs 8%) in spite of more adverse factors (Table 7). 2 The exact reason for these differences is not clear, but we propose the following 2 explanations.…”

“…15 However, previous retrospective studies comparing capecitabine and 5-FU indicated that capecitabine was at least as effective as 5-FU in preoperative CRT regimen. [16][17][18][19] The NSABP R-04 trial is expected to provide important information about the efficacy of oral capecitabine versus 5-FU chemotherapy. 20 This trial has completed accrual and the results are pending.…”

“…The first explanation seems to be reasonable but not conclusive because pathologic complete response rate has been reported to be slightly higher in the capecitabine-based regimen than 5-FU. 2,3,[16][17][18]20,27 The second explanations are difficult to prove but commonly used.…”

Daily low-dose/continuous capecitabine combined with neo-adjuvant irradiation reduces VEGF and PDGF-BB levels in rectal carcinoma patients

“…This work is a correlative study, along a separate clinical study that was conducted in that institute for evaluating the effect of neo-adjuvant radiotherapy to the pelvis combined with continuous oral chemotherapy by capecitabine. The patients' demographics, as well as their tumor characteristics, and their clinical results of treatment, are detailed in a separate paper [14]. Our study population included those 32 of their 43 patients from whom we could obtain all the programmed serum samples.…”

Probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics: A role in chemoprevention for colorectal cancer?

“…2 Current treatment options for CRC include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, all of which can significantly reduce quality of life. Emerging therapeutic strategies for CRC include the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, Sulindac, 3 new chemotherapeutics including Capecitabine, 4 and antibodies such as the monoclonal epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) antibody, Cetuximab. 5 However, probiotics represent another emerging therapeutic option.…”