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Management of patients with incurable colorectal cancer: a retrospective audit
Author(s) -
Thavanesan N.,
Abdalkoddus M.,
Yao C.,
Lai C. W.,
Stubbs B. M.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
colorectal disease
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.029
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1463-1318
pISSN - 1462-8910
DOI - 10.1111/codi.14116
Subject(s) - medicine , interquartile range , colorectal cancer , retrospective cohort study , cancer , stage (stratigraphy) , life expectancy , surgery , population , paleontology , environmental health , biology
Aim Counselling patients and their relatives about non‐curative management options in colorectal cancer is difficult because of a paucity of published data. This study aims to determine outcomes in patients unsuitable for curative surgery and the rates of subsequent surgical intervention. Method This was an analysis of all colorectal cancers managed without curative surgery in a district general hospital from a prospectively maintained cancer registry between 2009 and 2016, as decided by a multidisciplinary team. Primary outcomes were overall survival and secondary outcomes were subsequent intervention rates and impact of tumour stage. Results In all, 183 patients out of 976 patients (18.8%) were identified. The median age at diagnosis was 81 years [interquartile range ( IQR ) 71–87 years]. Overall median survival from diagnosis was 205 days ( IQR 60–532 days). One‐year mortality was 62.3%. Patients were classified into two groups depending on the reason for a non‐curable approach: patient‐related ( PR ) or disease‐related ( DR ). The difference in survival between PR (median 277 days, IQR 70–593) and DR (median 179 days, IQR 51–450) was 98 days ( P = 0.023). Twenty‐four patients were alive at the end of the study period; 19 out of 91 cases in PR (20.8%) and five out of 92 cases in DR (5.4%). Overall intervention rates were 11.9%, with higher rates in the DR group ( P = 0.005). Disease stage was not associated with subsequent surgical intervention between the two groups ( P = 0.392). Conclusion Life expectancy for non‐curatively managed patients within our unit was 6.8 months with one in nine patients requiring subsequent surgical admission for palliation. This information may be useful when counselling patients with incurable colorectal malignancy.