Combination Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With Colorectal Cancer

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. It is not yet known if the effectiveness of irinotecan combined with fluorouracil in treating colorectal cancer varies depending on the patient’s racial background.
PURPOSE: Phase III trial to study the effectiveness of irinotecan combined with fluorouracil in treating patients from different racial backgrounds who have colorectal cancer that is advanced, recurrent, metastatic or has not responded to treatment with fluorouracil.

研究背景：化疗药物通过多种机制阻断肿瘤细胞分裂，使其增殖停滞乃至死亡。目前尚不明确伊立替康（irinotecan）联合氟尿嘧啶（fluorouracil）治疗结直肠癌的疗效是否会因患者种族背景不同而存在差异。
试验目的：本研究为III期临床试验，旨在评估伊立替康联合氟尿嘧啶治疗不同种族背景结直肠癌患者的疗效，受试人群为晚期、复发转移性或经氟尿嘧啶治疗后未获得临床应答的结直肠癌患者。