Effectiveness of Oral Chemotherapy in Rectum Cancer

kushal_chak · New User Joined: 03 Jul 2006 Posts: 1

My father is suffering from rectum cancer..He has been operated for APR (abdominoperineal resection) and the biopsy of the

specimen revealed Astler-Coller stage B2 (with no metastates)..
He was then treated with radiation therapy (28 fractions) over a six-week period. During this time, one large dose (bolus) of

5-FU was given for three days during the first and last weeks of radiation therapy.
Now since the radiation treatment is over, doctor has suggesed for four further courses of chemotherapy with 5-FU + Leucovorin to be given five days in a row, once per month.
I have gone through a lot of internet sites, and after going through each of them, I have got the following queries :-

1) How efficient is oral chemotherapy (like Xeloda) in this case ?? Is Xeloda only for rectum cancer with metastates or is it applicable over here also (where there is no indication of presence of metastates) ???

2) Is it absolutely mandatory to provide four further courses of chemotherapy ???

3) Is Xeloda not as efficient as the combination of 5 FU + Leucovorin ??? Is there any other oral substitute for 5 FU + Leucovorin ??

4) If Xeloda (or any other oral drug is as good/efficient as 5 FU + Leucovorin) then what should be the proper dosage for the drug ???

I just want to have a clear idea about the oral drugs before consulting once again with my doctor..
Any suggestion would be highly appreciated..

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