***TASK*** the task is to summarize an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***INPUT*** the input is a biomedical literature 
    ***OUTPUT*** the output is the summary of an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***DOCUMENTATION*** 
    ***EXAMPLES*** 
    Input: BACKGROUND Oral capecitabine achieves a superior response rate with an improved safety profile compared with bolus 5-fluorouracil-leucovorin ( 5-FU/LV ) as first-line treatment for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer . We report here the results of a large phase III trial investigating adjuvant oral capecitabine compared with 5-FU/LV ( Mayo Clinic regimen ) in Dukes ' C colon cancer . PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients aged 18 - 75 years with resected Dukes ' C colon carcinoma were r and omized to receive 24 weeks of treatment with either oral capecitabine 1250 mg/m(2 ) twice daily , days 1 - 14 every 21 days ( n = 993 ) , or i.v . bolus 5-FU 425 mg/m(2 ) with i.v . leucovorin 20 mg/m(2 ) on days 1 - 5 , repeated every 28 days ( n = 974 ) . RESULTS Patients receiving capecitabine experienced significantly ( P < 0.001 ) less diarrhea , stomatitis , nausea/vomiting , alopecia and neutropenia , but more h and -foot syndrome than those receiving 5-FU/LV . Fewer patients receiving capecitabine experienced grade 3 or 4 neutropenia , febrile neutropenia/sepsis and stomatitis ( P < 0.001 ) , although more experienced grade 3 h and -foot syndrome than those treated with 5-FU/LV ( P < 0.001 ) . Capecitabine demonstrates a similar , favorable safety profile in patients aged < 65 years or > or = 65 years old . CONCLUSIONS Based on its improved safety profile , capecitabine has the potential to replace 5-FU/LV as st and ard adjuvant treatment for patients with colon cancer . Efficacy results are expected to be available in Keywords : Adjuvant treatment , capecitabine , chemotherapy , colorectal BACKGROUND / AIMS Colon cancer is one of the major health problems in industrialized countries , and its incidence appears to be increasing . Surgical resectability is the most important prognostic determinant , although despite apparently curative surgery , recurrent tumors are common . Metastatic disease can not be cured , and thus , there is a need for better adjuvant therapies . METHODS Two hundred and thirty-nine patients with surgically resected colon cancer in Dukes ' stage B2 or C were r and omly assigned to chemotherapy or observation alone to determine whether adjuvant chemotherapy could effectively reduce the rate of cancer recurrence .  One hundred and twenty-one patients in stage B2 and 118 patients in stage C were enrolled in the study .  Adjuvant treatment consisted of folinic acid 200 mg/m2 , intravenously , plus 5-fluorouracil 400 mg/m2 , intravenously , on days 1 - 5 every 4 weeks for 12 cycles . RESULTS In stage B2 , no significant difference between the adjuvant arm and the observation arm was noted . In stage C , adjuvant chemotherapy produced an advantage over observation in terms of a reduction in cancer recurrence rate with prolongation of a disease-free interval ( P = 0.0016 ) and an improvement in overall survival ( P = 0.0025 ) . CONCLUSIONS This study shows that folinic acid plus 5-fluorouracil adjuvant chemotherapy is effective in patients with surgically resected Dukes ' stage C colon carcinoma Background : Adjuvant chemotherapy for colon cancer has been established during the past decade . From 1990 until recently treatment with 5- fluorouracil ( 5-FU ) and levamisole ( LEV ) lasting 12 months was recommended as st and ard treatment . At the initiation of this study in 1993 improvement of adjuvant therapy was expected by the modulation of 5-FU with folinic acid ( FA ) . Therefore , we decided to perform a prospect i ve r and omized multicenter trial to compare st and ard 5-FU/LEV to 5-FU/FA for either 6 or 12 months . Patients and Methods : Patients with stage III colon cancer after curative en bloc resection were r and omized in 3 treatment groups : arm A ( 5-FU/LEV , weekly , 12 months ) , arm B ( 5-FU/FA , days 1–5 , every 4 weeks , 12 months ) and arm C ( like B , 6 months ) . Results : Between March 1993 and November 1997 , 180 patients were r and omized into the study , 155 were eligible for further evaluation . The interim analysis in November 2000 showed no significant difference for recurrence and disease-free survival in arm B and C , therefore the data from both 5-FU/FA treatment arms ( B+C ) were combined for comparison with 5-FU/LEV-treatment ( A ) . Most pronounced toxicity in all treatment arms was mild nausea , loss of appetite and leukopenia . A tendency for more diarrhea and stomatitis was observed in arm B+C. After a median follow-up of 36.2 months no significant difference was seen for diseasefree survival ( p = 0.9 ) and overall survival ( p = 1.0 ) . 3-year recurrence rates were 39.6 % in arm A and 39.1 % in arm B+C , 3-year survival rates amounted to 74.1 % in arm A and 74.9 % in arm B+C. Conclusion : Only a limited number of patients could be recruited in this study . The observed data support the results of other studies , which concluded that 6 months ( or 12 months ) treatment with 5-FU/FA is equivalent to 12 months treatment with 5-FU/LEV . Therefore the 6 months treatment with 5-FU/FA can be supported as st and ard for adjuvant therapy of stage III colon cancer Irinotecan-based chemotherapy with bevacizumab is one of the first-line st and ard therapies for metastatic colorectal cancer ( mCRC ) .  TEGAFIRI ( UFT/LV + irinotecan ) is an irinotecan-based chemotherapy regimen . Currently , few clinical data regarding TEGAFIRI are available . This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of TEGAFIRI in Japanese patients with mCRC . This is a multicenter , r and omized , phase II study . The major inclusion criteria were previously untreated patients with mCRC ( age : 20 - 75 years , Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status : 0 - 1 ) . Eligible patients were r and omly assigned ( 1:1 ) to receive either FOLFIRI ± bevacizumab or TEGAFIRI ± bevacizumab . The primary endpoint was progression-free survival ( PFS ) . The secondary endpoints were response rate , overall survival , dose intensity and toxicity . From November 2007 to October 2011 , 36 and 35 patients assigned to the FOLFIRI and TEGAFIRI groups were included in the primary analysis . No significant difference in PFS was observed between the groups { median PFS : TEGAFIRI 9.9 months [ 95 % confidence interval ( CI ) , 6.5 - 14.7 ] , FOLFIRI 10.6 months [ 95 % CI , 7.7 - 16.5 ] ; Hazard ratio , 0.98 , 95 % CI , 0.57 - 1.66 , p = 0.930}. The response rates in the FOLFIRI and TEGAFIRI groups were 56 % and 66 % , respectively . Relative dose intensity was similar between the groups . The most common Grade 3/4 adverse event was diarrhea ( 26 % ) in TEGAFIRI group and neutropenia ( 39 % ) in the FOLFIRI group . The results of the present study indicate that TEGAFIRI ± bevacizumab is an effective and tolerable first-line treatment regimen for mCRC BACKGROUND Traditionally , metastatic colorectal cancer ( MCRC ) has been treated with intravenous ( i.v . ) 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin ( 5-FU/LV ) . The tumour-activated , oral fluoropyrimidine capecitabine demonstrates superior activity and favourable safety compared with the Mayo regimen , while potentially avoiding the complications and inconvenience associated with i.v . regimens . PATIENTS AND METHODS Ninety-seven patients with previously untreated advanced/MCRC were r and omised to receive capecitabine followed by i.v . 5-FU/LV [ Mayo Clinic , in-patient de Gramont ( IPdG ) or out-patient modified de Gramont ( OPdG ) regimens ] , or i.v . 5-FU/LV followed by capecitabine . RESULTS Before treatment , of those patients for whom a preference was recorded , almost all ( 95 % ) preferred oral treatment ( consistent across all treatment groups ) and the majority retained this preference after treatment ( 64 % overall ; 86 % , 63 % and 50 % in the Mayo , IPdG and OPdG groups , respectively ) . Following treatment , the principal reasons for oral treatment preference were increased convenience , home-based administration and tablet formulation . Treatment satisfaction was significantly higher with capecitabine compared with Mayo ( P<0.05 ) and with OPdG compared with capecitabine ( P<0.05 ) . Quality of life ( QoL ) was largely constant across the regimens , although it appeared better with OPdG than capecitabine ( P<0.05 ) . Grade 3/4 adverse events were uncommon in all arms . CONCLUSIONS This study confirmed that the majority of patients with MCRC prefer oral to i.v . therapy , although the OPdG regimen appears to be the most popular i.v . option . Capecitabine clearly represents an effective , well-tolerated oral alternative to i.v . 5-FU/LV PURPOSE This multicenter , r and omized trial compared capecitabine plus oxaliplatin ( XELOX ) with bolus fluorouracil ( FU ) and folinic acid ( FA ) as adjuvant therapy for patients with stage III colon cancer . PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients who had undergone curative resection were r and omly assigned to XELOX ( oxaliplatin 130 mg/m(2 ) on day 1 plus capecitabine 1,000 mg/m(2 ) twice daily on days 1 to 14 every 3 weeks for 24 weeks ) or a st and ard bolus FU/FA adjuvant regimen ( Mayo Clinic for 24 weeks or Roswell Park for 32 weeks ) . The primary study end point was disease-free survival ( DFS ) . RESULTS The intention-to-treat population comprised 1,886 patients ; 944 patients were r and omly assigned to XELOX and 942 to FU/FA ( Mayo Clinic , n = 664 ; Roswell Park , n = 278 ) . After 57 months of follow-up for the primary analysis , 295 patients ( 31.3 % ) in the XELOX group had relapsed , developed a new primary colon cancer , or died compared with 353 patients ( 37.5 % ) in the FU/FA group ( hazard ratio [ HR ] for DFS , 0.80 ; 95 % CI , 0.69 to 0.93 ; P = .0045 ) . The 3-year DFS rate was 70.9 % with XELOX and 66.5 % with FU/FA . The HR for overall survival ( OS ) for XELOX compared to FU/FA was 0.87 ( 95 % CI , 0.72 to 1.05 ; P = .1486 ) . The 5-year OS for XELOX and FU/FA were 77.6 % and 74.2 % , respectively . Follow-up is ongoing . Preplanned multivariate and subgroup analyses supported the robustness of these findings . CONCLUSION The addition of oxaliplatin to capecitabine improves DFS in patients with stage III colon cancer . XELOX is an additional adjuvant treatment option for these patients PURPOSE Three-year disease-free survival ( DFS ) was significantly improved in patients who had undergone resection with curative intent for stage II or III colon cancer who received bolus plus continuous-infusion fluorouracil plus leucovorin ( LV5FU2 ) with the addition of oxaliplatin ( FOLFOX4 ) . Final results of the study , including 6-year overall survival ( OS ) and 5-year up date d DFS , are reported . PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 2,246 patients were r and omly assigned to receive LV5FU2 or FOLFOX4 for 6 months . The primary end point was DFS . Secondary end points were OS and safety . Results Five-year DFS rates were 73.3 % and 67.4 % in the FOLFOX4 and LV5FU2 groups , respectively ( hazard ratio [ HR ] = 0.80 ; 95 % CI , 0.68 to 0.93 ; P = .003 ) . Six-year OS rates were 78.5 % and 76.0 % in the FOLFOX4 and LV5FU2 groups , respectively ( HR = 0.84 ; 95 % CI , 0 
    Output:
    
Results of this review should provide confidence that treatment for CRC with most of the oral fluoropyrimidines commonly used in current clinical practice is similarly efficacious to treatment with IV fluoropyrimidines .
Treatment with eniluracil with oral 5-FU was associated with inferior PFS and OS among participants treated with palliative intent for CRC , and eniluracil is no longer being developed .