More Living Longer With Advanced Co...(and 2006. In that time overall averag...),Health

In that time, overall average survival rates went up, from about 14 months post-diagnosis between 1990 and 1997 to almost 19 months between 1998 and 2003. By the end of the study in 2006, that figure had shot up to just over 29 months.

Five-year survival rates also increased, from just over 9 percent between 1990 and 1997 to 13 percent between 1998 and 2000; and then again to just over 19 percent between 2001 and 2003. The authors now estimate that nearly 30 percent of patients diagnosed between 2004 and 2006 will ultimately have survived five years post-diagnosis.

These trends were confirmed by a secondary analysis of U.S. National Cancer Institute data on 50,000 patients with metastatic colon cancer between 1990 and 2005.

The researchers noted that although less than 10 percent of the patients had undergone a surgical procedure known as hepatic resection (to deal with the spread of disease to the liver), the intervention started to be performed with greater frequency beginning in 2000.

Even more impressive survival rates would be possible down the road, Kopetz suggested, if more patients who could benefit from surgery were encouraged to have it.

"Our best estimates are that 20 to 30 percent of metastatic colon cancer patients would be eligible for surgery for their disease," he noted. "But the data indicates that only about 5 percent of patients are currently undergoing these surgeries.

Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society, said the findings need to be interpreted with caution.

"We have certainly made advances in treatment as a result of chemotherapy, compared to where we were 10, 15, 30 years ago, he noted. And we've also learned that there is a group of patients where we can do something with surgical techniques, and they can often go on to do very well. And yes, the results, in terms of improved survival trends, are important
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