Right versus left-sided colon cancer: Is it time to consider these as different diseases?

Abstract

Primary tumour location has emerged as an important characteristic in understanding the outcomes for patients with colorectal cancer. Recent international re-appraisal of randomised controlled data as well as case series and epidemiological databases clearly demonstrate that primary tumour location is both an independent prognostic marker and has predictive value in relation to anti-EGFR therapy. Consequently, location should be taken into consideration in the clinical management of patients affected by colon cancer as well as informing research and the design of future clinical trials.

Keywords

• primary tumour location
• metastatic colorectal cancer
• sidedness
• prognostic
• predictive
• molecular signature
• stratification