Oncologic Outcomes of Oral Adjuvant Chemotherapy Regimens in Stage III Colon Cancer: Tegafur-Uracil Plus Leucovorin Versus Capecitabine.

INTRODUCTION: Although several major trials of treatment for stage III colon cancer have been reported, no study has compared oral adjuvant chemotherapy regimens using tegafur-uracil in combination with leucovorin (UFT/LV) and capecitabine (CAPE) alone. This study compared the oncologic outcomes of treatment with these 2 oral regimens. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Records of patients with stage III colon cancer who underwent curative surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy from April 2007 and September 2014 were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: A total of 258 patients with stage III colon cancer received oral adjuvant chemotherapy with UFT/LV (n = 157, 61%) and CAPE (n = 101, 39%). The overall rate of completion of scheduled treatment was 78.6%. Significantly fewer patients on UFT/LV completed the regimen compared with those on CAPE (117, 74.5% vs. 86, 85.1%; P < .01). There were no significant differences in oncologic outcome between UFT/LV and CAPE in terms of 3-year overall survival rates (OS; 95.8% vs. 92.4%, P = .45) and 3-year relapse-free survival rates (RFS; 82.7% vs. 79.3%, P = .8). CONCLUSION: The 3-year RFS and OS were similar for both regimens, yielding an excellent outcome. The selection of adjuvant chemotherapeutic regimens must be based on the patient's status as well as considering the incidences of adverse events, medical cost, and administration convenience.