Implications of recent neoadjuvant clinical trials on the future practice of radiotherapy in locally advanced rectal cancer.

ABSTRACT: Over the last two decades, the standard treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) has been neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy plus total mesorectal excision followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. Total neoadjuvant treatment (TNT) and immunotherapy are two major issues in the treatment of LARC. In the two latest phase III randomized controlled trials (RAPIDO and PRODIGE23), the TNT approach achieved higher rates of pathologic complete response and distant metastasis-free survival than conventional chemoradiotherapy. Phase I/II clinical trials have reported promising response rates to neoadjuvant (chemo)-radiotherapy combined with immunotherapy. Accordingly, the treatment paradigm for LARC is shifting toward methods that increase the oncologic outcomes and organ preservation rate. However,

SUBMITTER: Kang MK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9950859 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature