Delay in Chemotherapy After Surgery in Colorectal Cancer may Prove Fatal

Delaying chemotherapy treatment for patients who have undergone surgery for colorectal cancer can reduce the survival rates of the patients, says a new study.

According to the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a four week delay in providing chemotherapy treatment to patients could reduce their disease free survival chances by 14 percent. The study was led by Dr James Biagi from the Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.

The researchers said that while a 65-year old man has a 60 percent chance of surviving five years following a colorectal surgery, delaying chemo treatment could see his chances reduce to below 50 percent. The researchers added that while there could be legitimate reasons, such as post operative complications, for holding off chemo treatment, delay in the treatment should be avoided as much as possible.

"The implication that time to adjuvant chemotherapy may be as relevant to patient outcome as access to modern chemotherapy should encourage [cancer services providers] to streamline and coordinate the delivery of adjuvant chemotherapy", the researchers said.

Source: Medindia