New research shows that giving chemotherapy before surgery for early-stage bowel cancer cuts the chance of the disease returning by 28%. Medical experts have hailed the 'remarkable' research.
The study, funded by Cancer Research UK, suggests at least 5,000 patients in the UK every year could benefit from a tweak to how they receive chemotherapy. At present, chemotherapy is given after surgery to try to capture stray cancer cells that could lead to the disease coming back.
But, under the new regime, patients would receive six weeks of chemotherapy, have surgery and then 18 weeks more chemotherapy, with the effect of giving people a bigger chance of beating the disease. The FOxTROT trial, led by the universities of Birmingham and Leeds, involved 1,053 patients at 85 hospitals in the UK, Denmark and Sweden.
