Links between regimen-related toxicities in patients being treated for colorectal cancer

Purpose of review To summarize the available evidence on cooccurring gastrointestinal toxicities and their potential link with other symptoms in cancer patients. The information obtained from colorectal cancer patient cohorts will be used as an example. Recent findings In recent years, it has become clear that gastrointestinal toxicities do not occur in isolation in cancer patients. Rather, they may link or associate with many other disturbances. Data have emerged that suggest that many of the complications of cancer chemotherapy occur in clusters and seem to support the sharing of common pathogenesis for clustering toxicities. Summary During the last few years, research in symptom clusters and cooccurring linked toxicities has markedly changed, progressively shifting from a simplistic descriptive picture to more comprehensive and pathogenetically driven analyses. Still, many questions remain to be answered, and whether and how toxicity aggregations vary during the treatment course remains to be elucidated.