Pre-Operative Radiochemotherapy for Rectal Cancer.

AbstractPurpose: The aim of the study was to find out whether pre-operative radiochemotherapy had any survival advantage over postoperative radiochemotherapy for rectal carcinoma patients without distant metastasis or peritoneal carcinomatosis.Material and methods: Between January 1998 and December 2003, 51 rectal carcinoma patients without distant metastasis or peritoneal carcinomatosis were randomly divided into pre-operative (PRE) and postoperative (POST) radiochemotherapy groups. Twenty-six were assigned to the PRE group and were operated on 5 to 8 weeks after the completion of radiotherapy. The other 25 patients were operated on immediately and received radiotherapy post-operatively 2 to 4 weeks after surgery. The patients were followed up for between 4 to 51 months. Results: In the PRE group the rates of disease-free survival were 92%, 70%, 56% and 56% at the end of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th years, respectively. In the POST group those percentages were 83%, 68%, 51% and 51% at the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and ...