Guideline- Versus Non-Guideline-Based Neoadjuvant Management of Clinical T4 Rectal Cancer

(1) Background: Practice guidelines recommend neoadjuvant treatment for clinical T4 rectal cancer. The primary objective of this retrospective study was to assess whether compliance with guidelines correlates with patient outcomes. Secondarily, we evaluated predictors of adherence to guidelines and mortality. (2) Methods: A total of 397 qualified rectal cancer (RC) patients from 2017 to 2020 at West China Hospital of Sichuan University were included. Patients were divided into two groups depending on adherence to neoadjuvant treatment guidelines. The main endpoints were overall survival (OS) and disease special survival (DSS). We analyzed factors associated with guideline adherence and mortality. (3) Results: Compliance with guidelines was only 39.55%. Patients' neoadjuvant therapy treated not according to the guidelines for clinical T4 RC was not associated with an overall survival (95.7% vs. 88.9%) and disease special survival (96.3% vs. 91.1%) benefit. Patients were more likely to get recommended therapy with positive patient compliance. Staging Ⅲ, medium/high differentiation and objective compliance were associated with increased risk of mortality. (4) Conclusions: Guideline adherence for clinical T4 RC in our system is low. Compliance with the relevant guidelines for neoadjuvant therapy seems not to lead to better overall survival for patients with clinical T4 RC.