Agarwal is an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Xeloda manufacturer Hoffman-La Roche Inc. provided partial funding for the study. In a related investigation, another research group looked at several potential genetic markers for predicting which colon cancer patients will get the most benefit from 5-FU chemotherapy. They analyzed the genetic make-up of tumor tissue taken from more than 300 people with advanced colon cancer and found that certain complex genetic changes were associated with a significantly better chance of surviving 5 years after treatment. Their complete report appears in the April 19 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine .
Chemotherapy comes with side effects.
Often people are miserable because of the treatment, not the cancer. So you could use this test to strike a balance between when that's warranted and when it's not. Some people might be better off not taking the chemotherapy. All rights reserved. All rights reserved.