TOPLINE:
In patients with locally advanced rectal cancer who receive neoadjuvant therapy, radiation dose intensification improves pathologic complete response but leads to a small increase in acute toxicities.
METHODOLOGY:
- Preoperative radiochemotherapy is standard of care for treating locally advanced rectal cancer, but 20%-30% of the patients develop metastatic disease. Although radiation dose escalation has been shown to improve local control and tumor regression, studies supporting this approach are limited.
- Researchers analyzed outcomes from 1028 patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (cT2-cT4 or cN0-cN2; median age, 65 years) who were treated with preoperative radiochemotherapy across 12 centers.
- Overall, 664 participants received a standard radiation dose (range, 44.25-50.00 Gy; median, 49.56 Gy) and 364…