Fragmentation of Multimodal Rectal Cancer Care: A Population-Level Retrospective Cohort Study

Locally advanced rectal cancer is often treated with multimodal therapy. Patients may receive care at a single institution or across multiple institutions. We designed this population-level retrospective cohort to determine the association between fragmented care and timeliness of treatment and long-term oncologic outcomes.

Patients with stage II/III rectal cancer who received at least two treatment modalities between 2010 and 2019 in Ontario, Canada were included. Fragmented care was defined as receiving at least one treatment modality at two or more institutions, while nonfragmented care was defined as receiving all treatments at a single institution. The primary outcome was timeliness of treatment as defined by Cancer Care Ontario Recommendations. Secondary outcomes included overall survival (OS).

Overall, 3381 patients received fragmented care and 2026 patients received nonfragmented care. Patients receiving nonfragmented care were more likely to undergo timely initiation of treatment (OR: 1.72, 95% CI: 1.50-1.97, p < 0.0001). This was driven by timely initiation of chemotherapy (OR: 1.32, 95% CI: 1.16-1.49, p < 0.0001). There was little to no difference in OS (HR: 1.11, 95% CI: 0.95-1.30, p = 0.19).

Patients with stage II/III rectal cancer receiving multimodal therapy may experience less timely initiation of treatment if their cancer care is fragmented. This did not translate into differences in long-term oncologic outcomes.