Dr. Venook on Evolving Treatment Strategies in CRC

Alan P. Venook, MD, The Madden Family Distinguished Professor of Medical Oncology and Translational Research at the University of California, San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses how treatment strategies have evolved for patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).

Venook explains that it is important to consider treatment options for subsets of patients who may be curable with stage IV metastatic disease. However, there are patients who require more palliative care. Practitioners should think about goals of therapy with each individual patient at the start of treatment.

Taking a look at existing data, Venook says that researchers are learning how to best select therapies for individual patients. Nevertheless, challenges still exist with RAS-mutated patients, as they have a poorer prognosis. Over the next 3 to 5 years, Venook predicts that there will be more tools available to help improve outcomes for patients.