Adjuvant Therapy for Rectal Cancer — A Good First Step

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Abstract
The usual initial treatment for patients who present with clinically resectable rectal cancer is surgery. Adjuvant therapy for this disease has improved considerably in the past decade, and most clinical trials now focus on postoperative combination therapy. The two components of this therapy are pelvic irradiation and chemotherapy based on fluorouracil. Radiation therapy decreases the incidence of local (pelvic) recurrences; chemotherapy enhances the effects of radiation and improves survival by decreasing the risk of distant metastasis.The publication of two randomized trials in which significant improvement in local control and survival was found with postoperative combination therapy1,2 prompted a . . .