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Special Section on Colorectal Cancer

Nonsurgical Approaches to Colorectal Cancer

Tucker Gosnell Gastrointestinal Cancer Center, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Key Words. Nonsurgical • Radiofrequency ablation • Chemoembolization • Radiation

Correspondence: David P. Ryan, M.D., Medical Director, Tucker Gosnell Gastrointestinal Cancer Center, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA. Telephone: 617-726-8515; Fax: 617-643-1894; e-mail: dpryan{at}partners.org

It is time to challenge the current orthodoxy that frowns upon surgical and nonsurgical methods of tumor reduction for patients with metastatic colon cancer. Although the studies conducted with radiofrequency ablation, chemoembolization, and radiation therapy in patients with metastatic colon cancer have tended to be small and may have been subject to selection bias, they have produced survival data that require careful consideration. At the very least, it is clear that loco regional approaches to debulking tumors are feasible and that their combination with systemic chemotherapy should be investigated.

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