MANAGEMENT OF METASTATIC COLORECTAL CANCER: Current Treatments and New Therapies

Colorectal cancer represents 8% of metastatic cancers. For decades, the gold standard therapy has been infusional chemotherapy with 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) associated to folinic acid. The discovery of irinotecan, oxaliplatin and oral forms of 5-FU in the nineties is considered a milestone in the treatment of this disease. Since 2004, targeted therapy with monoclonal antibodies including anti-EGFR and angiogenesis inhibitors showed superiority in terms of mortality compared to conventional therapy. Metastatic colorectal cancer, however, remains an incurable disease. We present the current treatments of metastatic colorectal cancer, the clinical development of these emerging treatments, and their position in the Lebanese health care system.