Timeliness of adjuvant chemotherapy (AT) for stage III adenocarcinoma of colon (CC): A measure of quality of care.

282 Background: In the past three decades multiple clinical trials have proven the benefit of AT for CC, establishing combination chemotherapy after recovery from surgery as a quality measure in stage III CC. The majority of clinical trials require enrollment for AT within eight weeks from surgery nonetheless there is no established standard time for delivery of AT. Timeliness of service is defined as one of the domains of quality care by Institute of Medicine. We explore the timing of AT as a quality measure in patients (pts) with CC. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of pts with CC who underwent surgery in Los Angeles County Hospital between January 2005 through December of 2009, with at least six months of follow up after surgery. Pt, disease and treatment characteristics were recorded. Disease free survival (DFS) was measured as the time from surgery to the last follow up or recurrence. Results: 52 pts, median age 58 years (28 – 86), 62% female, 65% Hispanics, 21% Asian, 6% black and 6% w...