Early survival outcomes in stage I-III operated colon cancer patients from a low prevalence, lower-middle income country: The Indian experience

857 Background: Data regarding survival and outcomes in operated colon cancer patients from a lower-middle income and low prevalence nation like India is scarce. Methods: Patients who underwent curative resection for non-metastatic, non-rectal colon cancer from January 2013 to December 2016 were retrospectively analyzed from a prospectively maintained database for baseline demographics, disease characteristics, adjuvant chemotherapy, recurrence free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS). RFS and OS were calculated by Kaplan Meier method. Results: 505 patients underwent resection in the pre-defined time-period. Median age of the patients was 53 years (range: 17 – 87) and 339 patients (67.3%) were male. Patients with stage I, stage II and stage III disease were 43(8.6%), 233(46.1%) and 217(42.9%), respectively, while 12 patients(2.4%) were not adequately staged, though non-metastatic. Right sided colon cancers were more prevalent as compared to left sided (56% vs. 44%) and 41 patients (8%) had signet ring adenocarcinoma on cytomorphology. Median number of nodes retrieved during surgery was 22 nodes(range:1-96 ). Adjuvant chemotherapy was planned for 406 patients (80.4%), with the common regimens used being capecitabine-oxaliplatin, capecitabine , 5-fluorouracil – oxaliplatin and 5-fluorouracil in 280 (55.2%), 80 (16%), 34 (7%) and 6 patients (1.2%), respectively. Planned adjuvant chemotherapy was completed in 334 patients(82.3%; n = 406) with 27 patients (6%) required dose reduction. 35 patients (7%) required permanent cessation of adjuvant treatment due to chemotherapy related toxicity. With a median follow up of 21.8 months (range: 0-56),estimated 3 year RFS for the entire cohort was 86.2% and estimated median OS was 95.2%. Estimated RFS in stage I, Stage II, stage III patients were 90.3%, 89.5% and 78% respectively (p-0.006). Conclusions: Early survival outcomes with Stage I-III colon cancers in a low prevalence country like India appears to be comparable or potentially superior to outcomes published from high prevalence countries. Adjuvant chemotherapy in Stage II and Stage III colon cancers in a real world scenario in India appears to be well tolerated.