Results of local excision followed by postoperative radiation therapy for rectal cancer

There is increasing interest in the use of local excision and postoperative radiation therapy (RT) as a sphincter-sparing approach for selected rectal cancers. The data suggest that this treatment approach should be limited to patients with either T1 tumors with adverse pathologic factors or T2 tumors. Transmural (T3) tumors have a 25% local recurrence rate with this technique and are treated more effectively with standard surgery and pre- or postoperative therapy. The results of local excision and postoperative RT are encouraging, however, more experience is needed to determine if this approach will have similar local control and survival rates as standard surgery.