Neo adjuvant chemo-radiotherapy and rectal cancer: can India follow the West?

The management of locally advanced rectal cancer has changed over the years with an emphasis on neoadjuvant chemo radiation therapy (CT-RT) followed by surgery. This study is undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of this treatment in our set of patients with a special focus on the outcome in large circumferential tumors.

The study included patients who underwent neo adjuvant CT-RT between Jan 2006 and Oct 2009 in our institution. They received radical radiotherapy with conventional fractionation to a dose of 45-50 Gy along with continuous two cycles of 5-FU infusion. All patients were assessed at four weeks clinically and by CT scan and underwent surgery if the tumor was resectable followed by adjuvant chemotherapy.

A total of 52 patients received the neoadjuvant treatment in form of CT-RT out of which 13 patients had undergone defunctioning colostomy before commencing treatment for severe obstructive symptoms. Only 73% patients underwent surgery in form of AR (anterior resection) or APR (abdominoperineal resection) and adjuvant chemotherapy was delivered in 28 (53.8%) patients only. The patients who underwent diversion colostomy had worse disease-free survival (DFS) as compared to those who received definitive treatment (33% vs. 74.9%, P<0.009).

This study represents Indian experience with standard neoadjuvant chemo radiotherapy followed by surgery in rectal cancer. Large circumferential tumors in our set of patients lead to poor outcome leading to more APR. Also this study supported the need for an abbreviated protocol which can be economically suited and organ preservation protocols have a long way to go.