[Preoperative chemotherapy for advanced colorectal carcinomas--comparison of histological effect between UFT + leucovorin tablet and UFT alone].

The authors analyzed the histological effect of preoperative chemotherapy for 41 colorectal advanced cancer patients using resected specimens. Twenty patients in the UFT + LV group received 400 mg/day of UFT and 30 mg/day of leucovorin for 10-14 days just before the operations. Twenty-one patients with UFT alone received UFT 400 mg/day during the same period. Only one patient in the UFT + LV group developed the side effect of mild leukocytopenia. The histological effect of the UFT + LV group was superior to that of the UFT alone group (p = 0.03). The number of Grade 1a and 1b in the UFT + LV group was 14 (60.9%) and 7 (30.4%), while in the UFT group 16 (66.7%) and 2 (8.3%). Histological examination revealed no lesions which showed Grade 2 and 3 in both groups. There was the tendency for the histological effect in moderately differentiated adenocarcinomas to be superior to that in well-differentiated adenocarcinomas in both group. The histological effect in metastatic lymph nodes was superior to that in the original colorectal lesions in both groups. This suggests preoperative chemotherapy with UFT + LV and UFT could achieve the clinical down-staging of advanced colorectal cancer.