A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that patients with stage 2 or stage 3 rectal cancer who received chemotherapy and radiation before surgery were less likely to have a recurrence than patients who received chemo and radiation after surgery.
Researchers studied more than 800 patients with stage 2 and stage 3 rectal cancer. About half received chemo and radiation (chemoradiation) before surgery and the other half received chemoradiation after surgery. Patient follow-up four years after treatment found a clear benefit for the before-surgery group.
Specifically, 6% of patients who received chemoradiation before surgery had a local recurrence, versus 13% of patients who received chemoradiation after surgery. Patients in the before-surgery group also experienced fewer side effects from treatment, like diarrhea and narrowing of the bowel where it had been reconnected after the tumor was removed.
Although the timing of treatment made a difference for side effects and local recurrence rates, it didn't seem to make a difference when it came to overall survival or the chance that the cancer would spread to a different part of the body.
What good is this research to you?
If you're about to receive surgery for stage 2 or stage 3 rectal cancer, you may want to talk to your doctor about the possibility of receiving chemotherapy and radiation before surgery rather than after. According to this research, doing so could halve your chances of a local recurrence and improve your overall quality of life during and after treatment.Related Research:
- Benefits of Esophageal Doppler-Guided Fluid Management
- Benefit of Radiation Before Rectal Cancer Surgery
- Chemoradiation Before Surgery Instead of After?
- Clinical Trial Results: Chemoradiation Before Surgery Helps Prevent Local Relapse of Rectal Cancer. National Cancer Institute. 26 Aug. 2006 [http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/results/pre-op-rectal1005/print?page=&keyword=].
- Sauer, R. and Becker, H. "Preoperative versus Postoperative Chemoradiotherapy for Rectal Cancer." New England Journal of Medicine 351.17 (Oct. 2004): 1731-1740. 26 Aug. 2006 [http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/351/17/1731].
