Abstract
Cancer of the colon, rectosigmoid junction and rectum is a very numerous disease in European countries, and especially in the Czech Republic. Pharmacological treatment of this disease is indicated in neoadjuvant, adjuvant and palliative care.
The standard for adjuvant treatment is 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) with leucovorin, capecitabine monotherapy and the combination of FOLFOX (5-FU, leucovorin, oxaliplatin) or the combination of FLOX. Neoadjuvant therapy is indicated for rectal cancers from stage T3 and for clinical positive lymph node findings.
It is applied together with radiotherapy concomitantly. In the palliative pharmacological treatment of metastatic disease, the dominant effort is to achieve operability of the finding, ie to enable resection of metastatic disease.
Patients who can be resected for metastatic disease have a significantly better prognosis. The main emphasis in determining the treatment of colorectal cancer is placed on the close cooperation of a team of physicians - diagnosticians, surgeons, oncologists and radiotherapists.
The team of experts should be adequately experienced and should work in a well-equipped workplace with sufficient complement facilities.