The Effect of (Chemo)Radiotherapy on Enlarged Lateral Lymph Nodes in Patients With Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer

Standard of care for most patients with locally advanced rectal cancer in The Netherlands consists of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) followed by resection. Enlarged lateral lymph nodes (LLNs), especially in the iliac compartment, appears to be associated with an increased risk of local recurrence. Little is known about the risk of local recurrence after nCRT.

This study included patients with locally advanced rectal cancer and enlarged LLNs on pretreatment MRI-scan located in the internal iliac, obturator, external iliac, or common iliac compartment. Patients were treated with nCRT and response to therapy was evaluated with MRI-scan. The primary endpoint was local lateral recurrence after nCRT. Secondary endpoints included overall survival and postoperative complications.

Out of 260 patients treated for rectal cancer, a total of 46 patients with enlarged LLNs (18% of all patients) were included between 2012 and 2019 in 2 Dutch hospitals. No patients had lateral lymph node recurrence (LLNR) after nCRT. Only 1 patient had local recurrence of rectal cancer after radical resection during a median follow up of 3 years. Disseminated disease was seen in 12 patients and 9 patients died during follow-up, which result in an overall survival rate of 80.4%. Postoperative complications were seen in 41% of patients. There was no 90-days postoperative mortality.

Enlarged LLNs are rare after nCRT and no LLNR was found after nCRT in our study population. This could suggest that nCRT only with or without an extra radiotherapeutic boost on enlarged LLNs already reduces the risk of LLNR.