Study: No Gain From Longer Wait After Preoperative Chemoradiation

Advanced rectal cancer patients who undergo preoperative chemotherapy and radiation do not gain any advantage by waiting three months rather than one to two months for their surgery, according to Jefferson Medical College researchers.

The researchers divided 33 patients, who received preoperative treatment with chemotherapy drugs irinotecan and 5-FU accompanied by external-beam radiation designed to shrink their tumors, into two groups.

One group of 19 patients waited four to eight weeks before undergoing surgery to remove the tumor. The other group of 14 patients waited ten to 14 weeks prior to surgery.

The researchers reported in the journal Diseases of the Colon & Rectum that by the time of surgery, tumors were downstaged in 58 percent of the patients who had waited one to two months compared to 43 percent of those who waited approximately three months -- a difference that was not statistically significant.

There were no statistical differences in complications arising from the surgery, the researchers reported.

"A longer interval between completion of neoadjuvant chemoradiation and surgical resection may not increase the tumor response rate of advanced rectal cancer" among these patients, the researchers concluded.

Other Sources: Diseases of the Colon & Rectum