Recent advances in neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced rectal cancer

REVIEW ARTICLE

Kazushige Kawai, Soichiro Ishihara, Hiroaki Nozawa, Keisuke Hata, Tomomichi Kiyomatsu, Toshiaki Tanaka, Takeshi Nishikawa, Kensuke Otani, Koji Yasuda, Koji Murono, Kazuhito Sasaki, Toshiaki Watanabe

Department of Surgical Oncology, The University of Tokyo

Abstract:

Preoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) has been actively used in Europe and the United States to treat advanced low rectal cancer, and provides excellent local control. In Japan, however, the standard treatment is lateral lymph node dissection, and to date CRT has not been actively used. In recent years, an increasing number of Japanese institutions have been using preoperative CRT to treat locally advanced rectal cancer. In this review, we describe the latest trends in CRT under five headings: short-course or long-course radiation, efforts to improve combined chemotherapy, the addition of preoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, the watch and wait strategy, and the significance of lateral lymph node dissection in patients receiving CRT.

Released: April 28, 2017; doi: dx.doi.org/10.23922/jarc.2017-005