現今大腸癌之治療趨勢

根據世界衛生組織 (WHO, 2010) 指出大腸癌為世界癌症死亡的第二大主因。全世界每年有超過11,000,000人被診斷出罹患癌症，在美國癌症盛行率排行榜高居第三位；在香港男性及女性癌症排行第二位；在台灣民國98年發生率為第二位，有4,531人死亡，死亡率則為第三位，顯示大腸癌的嚴重性是不容小覷，因此如何治療大腸癌及探討大腸癌可能致病原因，是目前臨床上重要的研究方向。現今大腸癌的治療以手術切除為主，化學治療為輔，但癌症後期存活率偏低及術後腸癌細胞易轉移，合併傳統化學藥物治療有嚴重的副作用等，使得病患治癒率低與復發率高。因此，開發新型藥物來輔助治療、延緩或抑制癌症發展是必需且急迫的。本文探討近來大腸癌的進展、致病機轉、診斷檢驗及治療，尤其探討針對癌細胞作用之標靶藥物的作用機轉、臨床試驗結果及副作用。提供社會大眾多加利用癌症篩檢、早期診斷、才能有更好的藥物治療，延長病患存活期及提高病患生活品質的基礎。

According to the epidemiological studies in Taiwan in 2009, the incidence of colorectal cancer ranked the second and the mortality of colorectal cancer ranked the third among all cancer deaths. Therefore, the seriousness of colorectal cancer should not be underestimated. Nowadays how to treat colorectal cancer and to explore the possible causes of colorectal cancer remains the major point for research. In the late stage colorectal cancer, distant metastases are common and the survival rate is still low even after surgical excision. Thus, it is essential and urgent to develop new drugs which could delay or inhibit the progression of colorectal cancer. The progress in pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment developed in targeted therapies lately on colorectal cancer will be discussed in this paper. We expect our paper can provide up-to-date colorectal cancer treatment for healthcare professionals and references for patients' decision-making in choosing the best modality for colorectal cancer treatments.