Metronomic chemotherapy with tegafur-uracil following radical resection in stage II colorectal cancer

Stage II colorectal cancer has a relatively good prognosis. Adjuvant chemotherapy following surgery is the standard treatment for stage III colorectal cancer but is not routinely recommended for all stage II colorectal cancer patients. We aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes, treatment results, and prognostic factors in stage II colorectal cancer patients who underwent curative surgery with/without oral tegafur-uracil (UFT). We included stage II colorectal cancer patients who underwent curative surgery and were followed up for at least 5 years after surgery at the National Taiwan University Hospital between January 2008 and December 2012. Excluding patients receiving neoadjuvant therapy, adjuvant therapy other than UFT, and those lost follow-up, patients treated with UFT (UFT group) and those without adjuvant therapy (surgery alone group) were analyzed for their clinical outcomes and prognostic factors. A total of 233 patients were recruited. Of these, 104 (44.64%) underwent only surgery while 129 (55.36%) received adjuvant chemotherapy with oral UFT following surgery. Recurrence or death occurred within 5 years in 60 patients (25.75%), with a significant difference between the surgery alone (36/104, 34.62%) and UFT groups (24/129, 18.61%) (p = 0.007). The UFT group demonstrated significantly superior 5-year disease-free (p = 0.003) and overall survival rates (p = 0.001), respectively. Patient age of ≤35.3 or ˃72.7 years, UFT duration of