Evolvement of the treatment paradigm for metastatic colon cancer. From chemotherapy to targeted therapy

Colorectal Cancer is the second most common cancer in incidence and mortality in the United States. In spite of current screening strategies 1 out of 5 patients still presents with metastatic disease. During the last 10-15 years there has been significant increase in the availability of chemotherapy options for this disease. The recent introduction of molecular markers to the treatment algorithm allows oncologists to tailor treatments for each particular patient. In the following article we give an overview of the landmark publications that led to our current standards and we give our view on particular situations in which the available evidence is not so helpful in making therapeutic decisions. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.