Fig. 1

Comparisons of a) effectiveness and b) total costs among adjuvant chemotherapy regimens for colorectal cancer. a Three-year DFS rates of CapeOX and FOLFOX4 were superior to that of 5-FU containing regimens [8, 9], whereas those of UFT/LV and capecitabine showed non-inferiority to 5-FU containing regimens [12, 13] (see Methods session). S-1 was non-inferior to UFT/LV [14] (see Methods session). b The total costs included anticancer drug costs, hospitalization costs, laboratory and imaging test costs, prescription fees for administered drugs, supportive care drug costs, and other costs. The total costs of oxaliplatin-containing regimens were significantly higher than those of oxaliplatin non-containing regimens (P < 0.001). Mean ± standard deviation, n = 57 for CapeOX, n = 10 for mFOLFOX6, n = 38 for UFT/LV, n = 20 for capecitabine, n = 29 for S-1