Chemoradiotherapy with or without surgery presents a possible cure for locally recurrent rectal cancer. In addition, researchers in Korea found that exhibiting symptoms related to the disease predicted clinical outcome. In a retrospective study of 67 patients (with surgery, 45; without surgery, 22), the presence of symptoms was a significant prognostic factor correlated with poor overall survival (P = .025), recurrence-free survival (P = .007), locoregional relapse-free survival (P = .003), and distant metastasis-free survival (P = .047). The researchers concluded, “The chemoradiotherapy scheme for LRRC patients should be adjusted to the possibility of resectability and risk of local failure to focus on local control.”
The provision article, as accepted for publication in Radiation Oncology is available online in BioMed Central (http://www.ro-journal.com/content/pdf/1748-717X-6-51.pdf).