Optimal surgery and Multimodal Therapy
The „Forschungsgruppe Onkologie Gastrointestinale Tumoren” (FOGT; slide 1) (Research Group on Oncology of Gastrointestinal Tumors) improved multimodal therapy of colon cancer. The aim at the beginning was to improve survival. The „Forschungsgruppe Onkologie Gastrointestinal Tumoren“ (FOGT) (Multidisciplinary research group on oncology of gastrointestinal tumors. Initiator/head: K.H.Link) aimed at improvement of survival time, – quality, and – rates. Protocols were designed involving the prescription of up to date standardized surgery and test protocols for better chemotherapy. Basic research studies were effectively run in parallel (“translational research”).
In the FOGT 1 colon cancer trial with participation of >850 patients and 64 hospitals survival in stage UICC III and IIB was significantly improved in arm B to 72%! (slide 2) Toxicity of the protocol, developed in the basic research laboratory, was extremely low. In the FOGT 2 rectal cancer trial with > 790 patients, local relapses in rectal cancer were reduced, compared to historical controls; however, survival could not be imroved by better chemotherapy (slide 3 & 4). FOGT helped to introduce this treatment in Germany.
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K. H. Link, L. Staib, E.-D. Kreuser, H. G. Beger; Adjuvant Treatment of Colon and Rectal Cancer: Impact of Chemotherapy, Radiotherapy, and Immunotherapy on Routine Postsurgical Patient Management.
Recent Results Cancer Research 142 (1996) 311-352
K. H. Link, T. A. Sagban, M. Moerschel, K. Tischbirek, M. Holtappels, V. Apell, K. Zayed, M. Kornmann, L. Staib
Colon cancer: survival after curative surgery
Langenbeck´s Archives of Surgery, 390, 83-93, 2005
K. H. Link, M. Hauser, M. Mann, P. M. Schlag: Kolonkarzinom
Chirurgische Onkologie Strategien und Standards für die Praxis
Michael Gnant, Peter M. Schlag (Hrsg.), Kapitel 23, 315-329, Springer Wien/New York, 2008