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Chemotherapy of gastrointestinal cancer
Author(s) -
Krakoff Irwin H.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(197212)30:6<1600::aid-cncr2820300628>3.0.co;2-k
Subject(s) - medicine , chemotherapy , cancer , rectum , esophagus , gastrointestinal cancer , colorectal cancer , disease , oncology , carcinoma , fluorouracil , gastroenterology
At present, useful chemotherapy in gastrointestinal cancer is almost restricted to carcinomas of the colon and rectum in which 5‐fluorouracil and several related fluoropyrimidines can produce clinically useful responses in 15 to 20% of patients. Other agents may have produced some benefit less consistently, and additional new agents are presently being studied. Although occasional responses are seen in gastric cancer and rarely in carcinoma of the esophagus, results to date in those diseases are disappointing. Present studies are aimed at employing combinations of chemotherapeutic agents since such regimens have proved to be more useful than single drugs in those diseases which are generally responsive to chemotherapy. Studies of the influence of antitumor drugs in patients with early minimal residual disease are also being pursued in an attempt to achieve more frequent and more prolonged benefit.