Controversies in the surgical management of rectal cancer

At the present time, standard therapy for potentially curable rectal cancer consists of transabdominal surgical resection and adjuvant chemoradiation for American Joint Committee on Cancer stage II/III disease. Controversial issues include the use of local excision as opposed to formal resection and total mesorectal excision (TME) alone without adjuvant therapy. Although early stage tumors are the ideal potential candidates for local excision, clinical staging with endoscopic ultrasound is extremely variable in accurately predicting T and N stage. In addition, even low-grade or T1 tumors are associated with a 7% to 14% chance of nodal metastatic disease. Overall, the risk for local recurrence is higher after local excision but may be reduced by adjuvant therapy. Salvage rates for recurrent disease range from 21% to 91%. In regard to TME, local recurrence rates are an impressive 0% to 12% without adjuvant radiation. However, the addition of radiation therapy may further reduce these already low rates, especially in higher-risk groups. The results of 2 large European studies show acceptable complication rates and the applicability of this technique to a diverse patient population.