A Review of Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy for Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer

Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy has become the standard treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer. Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy not only can reduce tumor size and recurrence, but also increase the tumor resection rate and anus retention rate with very slight side effect. Comparing with preoperative chemotherapy, preoperative chemoradiotherapy can further reduce the local recurrence rate and downstage. Middle and low rectal cancers can benefit more from neoadjuvant chemradiotherapy than high rectal cancer. It needs to refine the selection of appropriate patients and irradiation modes for neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Different therapeutic reactions to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy affect the type of surgical techniques, hence calling for the need of much attention. Furthermore, many problems such as accurate staging before surgery, selection of suitable neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy method, and sensitivity prediction to preoperative radiotherapy need to be well settled.