The demonstration that postoperative adjuvant
treatment with fluorouracil and levamisole reduced
the mortality rate by 33 percent among patients
with stage III colon cancer
4
prompted several trials,
which established six months of treatment with
fluorouracil plus leucovorin (FL) as the standard adjuvant
chemotherapy for stage III colon cancer.
5-11
Oxaliplatin is a third-generation platinum derivative,
which, when combined with fluorouracil and
leucovorin, is among the most effective chemotherapies
for metastatic colorectal cancer.
12-15
To
determine whether oxaliplatin can also benefit patients
with disease in an earlier stage, we conducted
an international phase 3 clinical trial in patients
with stage II or III colon cancer — the Multicenter
International Study of Oxaliplatin/5-Fluorouracil/
Leucovorin in the Adjuvant Treatment of Colon
Cancer (MOSAIC).