Clinically Node Negative, Pathologically Node Positive Rectal Cancer Patients Who Did Not Receive Neoadjuvant Therapy

Purpose Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy is the preferred standard of care for clinical stages II–III rectal cancer. It is uncertain whether clinically node negative (cN−) tumors found to be pathologically stage III could be optimally treated with surgery alone and avoid adjuvant treatments. The aim of our study was to define the outcomes of such patients.