[Postoperative chemotherapy in rectal carcinoma]

The natural history of rectal carcinoma requires to achieve strategies addressed both local control and the prevention of distant metastases. Based on the NCI Consensus Conference of 1990, the recommended adjuvant treatment for rectal carcinomas staged pT3, or with pathologically involved lymph nodes, is represented by concurrent chemoradiation. The role of chemotherapy in the adjuvant treatment of patients operated on for rectal tumor remains unclear also in patients treated with preoperative chemoradiation. The chemotherapeutic drugs to be used, and the potential role of chemotherapy alone for patients at low risk of local recurrence, should also be considered. In this analysis literature data regarding these issues are presented. Despite the absence of clear indications from published data, in patients with pathological B2 or C stage after preoperative chemoradiation it seems that adjuvant chemotherapy should be used.