Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 30, 2025
Robot-assisted Total Mesorectal Excision and Lateral Pelvic Lymph Node Dissection for Locally Advanced Middle-low Rectal Cancer
Published on: February 12, 2022
Biology-and Location-Oriented Precision Treatment of Rectal Cancer: Present and Future
1Klinik für Allgemein- und Viszeralchirurgie, Universitätsklinikum Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
Background:
The surgical approach in rectal cancer treatment has evolved in the last decades and a standardized surgical technique for tumor resection - total mesorectal excision - has been established.
Summary:
In a multidisciplinary effort with the use of total mesorectal excision in combination with adjuvant and neoadjuvant treatments to compliment surgery disease management can achieve excellent long-term local control and improved patient survival. Further improvements in imaging techniques and the ability to identify prognostic factors such as tumor regression, extramural venous invasion, and threatened margins have introduced the concept of decision-making based on preoperative staging information.
Key Message:
Therefore, in the modern era treatment algorithms are based on high-resolution imaging to plan neoadjuvant therapy and precision surgery followed by pathological and molecular analysis to stratify patients for the need of adjuvant chemotherapy. Despite excellent results with guideline structured treatment pathways, there is still a need to improve long-term results especially for individuals with locally advanced or metastatic tumors.
