Feasibility of sequential adjuvant chemotherapy with a 3-month oxaliplatin-based regimen followed by 3 months of capecitabine in patients with stage III and high-risk stage II colorectal cancer: JSWOG-C2 study

Atsushi Tsuruta,1,* Kazuki Yamashita,2,* Hiroaki Tanioka,3 Akihito Tsuji,4,5 Michio Inukai,6 Toshiki Yamakawa,7 Tomoki Yamatsuji,8 Masanori Yoshimitsu,9 Kazuhiro Toyota,10 Taketoshi Yamano,11 Takeshi Nagasaka,12 Masazumi Okajima13 On behalf of the Japan Southwest Oncology Group (JSWOG) 1Department of Digestive Surgery, Kawasaki Medical School Hospital, 2Department of Surgery, 3Department of Medical Oncology, Okayama Rosai Hospital, Okayama, 4Department of Medical Oncology, Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital, Kobe, 5Department of Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University Hospital, Kagawa, 6Department of Medicine, Okayama Saiseikai General Hospital, Okayama, 7Department of Surgery, Kagawa Prefectural Central Hospital, Takamatsu, 8Department of General Surgery, Kawasaki Medical School, Okayama, 9Department of Surgery, Hiroshima City Asa Hospital, Hiroshima, 10Department of Surgery, National Hospital Organization Higashihirosima Medical Center, Higashihiroshima, 11Department of Surgery, Kurashiki Medical Center, 12Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, 13Department of Surgery, Hiroshima City Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: Six months of oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy is the standard adjuvant chemotherapy for completely resected stage III colorectal cancer (CRC). Also, patients with stage II CRC who are considered to be at high risk of disease recurrence often receive the same adjuvant chemotherapy treatment. We prospectively investigated the extent and degree of neuropathy suffered by stage III and high-risk stage II resectable CRC patients who underwent sequential approach involving 3 months of an oxaliplatin-based regimen followed by 3 months of capecitabine. Patients and methods: Patients with completely resected stage III and high-risk stage II CRC aged ≥20 years were eligible. Patien