Study: Chemotherapy Plus Radiation Before Surgery Better for Advanced Rectal Cancer

Combining chemotherapy treatment with radiation therapy prior to operating on patients with advanced rectal cancer leads to improved sphincter preservation, according to researchers at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

In their study, researchers compared the outcomes of 403 patients with advanced rectal cancer treated at M.D. Anderson and at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Of those patients, 215 received chemotherapy in addition to radiation prior to surgery.

Reporting in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology·Biology·Physics, the researchers said the addition of chemotherapy to preoperative radiation therapy improved the tumor response to radiation therapy.

"The use of concurrent chemotherapy with preoperative radiation therapy for patients with stage T3 and T4 rectal cancer independently increases the tumor response and may contribute to increased sphincter preservation for patients with low rectal cancer," the researchers concluded.

Other sources: American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology