THURSDAY, Oct. 27, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- The side of origin of colon cancer (CC) impacts prognosis, with reduced risk of death for left-sided CC (LCC), according to a review published online Oct. 27 in JAMA Oncology.
Fausto Petrelli, M.D., from ASST Bergamo Ovest in Treviglio, Italy, and colleagues conducted a systematic review of prospective and retrospective studies reporting data on overall survival for LCC versus right-sided CC (RCC). Hazard ratios for overall survival were pooled to provide an aggregate value for LCC versus RCC. Data were analyzed from 66 studies, with 1,437,846 patients who were followed for a median of 65 months.
The researchers observed a significantly reduced risk of death in association with left-sided primary tumor location (hazard ratio, 0.82; P < 0.001). This was independent of confounding variables, including stage, race, adjuvant chemotherapy, year of study, number of participants, and quality of included studies.
"Based on these results, CC side should be acknowledged as a criterion for establishing prognosis in all stages of disease," the authors write. "It should be considered when deciding treatment intensity in metastatic settings, and should represent a stratification factor for future adjuvant studies."
Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
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