Retrospective analysis of the effect of delayed chemotherapy on the prognosis of patients with stage III colorectal cancer receiving standard chemotherapy

Abstract

Abstract Objective It is still uncertain whether delayed chemotherapy will cause poor prognosis of colorectal cancer patients. Therefore, we conducted this retrospective study to compare the long-term survival of the delayed chemotherapy (DT) group with that of the continued chemotherapy (CT) group. Methods We collected the data on 560 patients with stage III colorectal cancer who received surgical treatment in the Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center in 2015. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 328 patients were included. The information was collected on chemotherapy history, clinical pathology and survival. The incidence of myelosuppression, liver function injury and prognosis were compared between the CT group and the DT group. Results 201 (61.3%) of the 328 patients suffered bone marrow suppression at least once during chemotherapy. 99 (49.3%) of them received symptomatic treatment. The results showed that compared with the DT group, the CT group had a lower incidence of myelosuppression (58.5% vs. 71.4, p < 0.001) and a lower incidence of liver dysfunction (17.79% vs. 28.57%, p < 0.001). Survival analysis suggested that the prognosis of the DT group was worse than that of the CT group (Ratio = 2.269, 95% CI: 1.651 to 4.188, p < 0.001) Conclusion Delayed chemotherapy was associated with poor prognosis in patients with stage III colorectal cancer. Clinicians should pay close attention to patients' blood tests and biochemistry tests while developing chemotherapy regimens and intervene promptly to avoid delaying the timing of chemotherapy.