Al Marsad newspaper: Research has found that chemotherapy before bowel cancer surgery can reduce the chances of it returning by more than a quarter.
A trial funded by Cancer Research UK shows that giving chemotherapy before surgery for early-stage bowel cancer reduces the chance of the disease returning by 28 per cent.
Chemotherapy is usually given after surgery to try to catch errant cancer cells that may lead to a recurrence of the disease.
According to the new system, patients will receive six weeks of chemotherapy before undergoing surgery, followed by another 18 weeks of chemotherapy.
The FOxTROT trial, which was led by the Universities of Birmingham and Leeds, included 1,053 patients in 85 hospitals in the UK, Denmark and Sweden.
During the study, the first group of patients received six weeks of chemotherapy, followed by surgery, then 18 weeks of chemotherapy, while the second group received natural treatment for bowel cancer, which included surgery, followed by 24 weeks of chemotherapy.
The results showed that patients who underwent chemotherapy before surgery were significantly less likely to see their cancer reappear within two years.