[Appropriate duration of postoperative oral adjuvant chemotherapy with HCFU for colorectal cancer].

We conducted a joint study of different duration of drug administration for oral adjuvant chemotherapy using camphor (HCFU) with patients having advanced colorectal cancer who underwent curative resection. The patients were randomly divided into 2 groups, according to length of HCFU administration (6-month group and 2-year group), and followed up for 5 years postoperatively. In total, 239 patients were originally enrolled, out of which 155 were chosen as subjects for this study. There was significant difference in the overall cumulative 5-year survival rate between the short-term group and the long-term group (78.1% vs 89.6%). Between the respective subgroup that was defined by tumor location (colon or rectum), no differences were observed, but there was significant difference in the subgroup that was defined by the presence/absence of lymph node metastasis (59.4% vs 83.9%). It appears that oral adjuvant chemotherapy with HCFU is more effective when administered for 2 years than for 6 months.