Does gender influence treatment decisions for colon cancer?

Although data show that female patients with colon cancer over the age of 50 have a longer survival period after surgery than male patients, there is currently no clear evidence that gender will have a significant impact on the treatment decisions of patients with colon cancer. Therefore, the treatment of colon cancer in women should still follow the basic principles of colon cancer treatment. At the same time, different patients should adopt individualized treatment models due to individual differences.

Surgical resection is the first choice for the treatment of early-stage colon cancer. For patients with liver or lung metastases, surgical treatment of metastases can also achieve good results on the basis of retaining sufficient liver or lung function and obtaining negative surgical margins. For patients with colon cancer who have lost the opportunity for surgery due to advanced disease or metastasis, neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy can downstage the tumor and even obtain the opportunity for surgery. In recent years, the emergence of molecular targeted drugs (cetuximab, panitumumab, bevacizumab, etc.) has brought new prospects for the treatment of advanced colon cancer. They can not only improve the efficacy of chemotherapy and prolong the survival of patients, but also do not significantly increase the toxicity associated with treatment. Of course, the application of some molecular targeted drugs requires the detection of relevant molecular indicators in patients to predict the efficacy.

However, it should be noted that female colon cancer is prone to ovarian metastasis. Therefore, for some patients with high-risk factors, such as those with histological classification of mucinous adenocarcinoma, mucinous cell carcinoma, poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma and Dukes C stage, preventive bilateral oophorectomy should be actively advocated, but its feasibility still needs further discussion.