Grant: Operating Grant

Since the 1990s, treatment guidelines recommend that patients with colon cancer receive chemotherapy after surgery. There are now 3 different chemotherapy treatment options for these patients. The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether patients are being offered these new treatments and the quality of care received. We will also explore the severity of treatment-related side effects and whether the survival of patients in routine care is as expected based on the results of clinical trials. Our research centre has a unique database which includes information about diagnosis, treatment, and outcome of all patients with colon cancer in Ontario. We will study patients that had surgery in Ontario during 2002-2012 for early-stage colon cancer. We will use our study database to answer the following questions: 1) Are the right patients receiving chemotherapy after surgery? 2) Is chemotherapy being delivered safely and in a timely fashion? 3) Are patients in different regions of Ontario receiving different forms of therapy? 4) Do patients appear to benefit from chemotherapy? 5) Is treatment associated with any serious or unexpected side effects? 6) Are patients receiving high quality care and are there areas that can be improved? We hope to provide information about whether doctors are following established guidelines for the management of colon cancer and whether the benefits of new treatments established in clinical trials are being realized in the general population. We will also identify areas where care can be enhanced in an effort to improve the outcome of patients in the future.