Chemotherapy of metastatic colon cancer in France: A population-based study

Abstract

Aims: to describe, using data from a cancer registry in a well-defined French population, the therapeutic strategies and survival of patients with metastatic colon cancer (mCC).

Methods: all patients with synchronous mCC diagnosed within the 2005-2014 period recorded in the digestive cancers registry of Burgundy were included.

Results: 1286 mCC patients were included (57% male), of which 34.5% did not receive any antitumor treatment. Both, advanced age (≥75 years) and the Charlson comorbidity score ≥2 were significantly associated with the absence of antitumor treatment. Among the patients treated with chemotherapy, 59 and 33% received at least two and three lines, respectively. Most patients treated with chemotherapy (68%) did not receive first-line targeted therapy. Of patients aged ≥75 years, 57% received no chemotherapy and 56% of treated patients had first-line treatment only.

Conclusion: this population-based study shows that more than one-third of patients with mCC receive no chemotherapy and that only 59% of treated patients receive treatment beyond the first line. This study also highlights the fact that more than half of patients ≥75 years do not get any antitumor treatment. In patients <75 years, the proportion of patients receiving chemotherapy and/or undergoing curative intent surgery tended to increase over time.

Keywords: Chemotherapy; Metastatic colorectal cancer; Population-based.