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One-third cut treatment short; mortality rate almost double for those who discontinue therapy early
NEW YORK | A study here shows that approximately one-third of elderly colon cancer patients discontinue their prescribed chemotherapy treatment early, and have mortality rates that are nearly twice as high as their counterparts who complete the recommended course of treatment.
The findings, which appear in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, also reported that older age, being unmarried and having comorbid conditions were associated with receiving less than the standard chemotherapeutic regimen.
An investigative team led by Dr. Alfred Neugut of the Columbia University Medical Centre here looked at 1,722 patients 65 years and older with stage III colon cancer who received one to seven months of fluorouracil-based adjuvant chemotherapy between 1995 and 1999.
Mortality
They found that 613 patients, or 30%, received treatment for only one to...