POSTOPERATIVE RADIOTHERAPY OF THE RECTAL CARCINOMA

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L. CIONINI
L. SCANDOLARO
D. GENOVESI

Abstract

In the last 40 years, radiotherapy as gained a major role in the curative treatment of rectal carcinoma. Based on a reported incidence of local failure after surgery between 15% and 50%, in patients with T3-4 rectal cancer, postoperative radiation has been proposed in this group of patients.However, postoperative radiotherapy results associated with a relatively high incidence of acute and late toxicity and the reported improvement in local control attained statistical significance only in the MRC randomized trial. A recent publication suggests that postoperative radiation should probably be reserved to the subgroup of pT3 patients with unfavourable features. Postoperative radiation therapy is considered also for patients with G1-2 carcinoma treated with local excision, who do not show lymphatic or venous invasion, and for those with pT2 stage or pT1 carcinoma with involved resection margins.

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How to Cite
CIONINI, L., et al. “POSTOPERATIVE RADIOTHERAPY OF THE RECTAL CARCINOMA”. Annali Italiani Di Chirurgia, vol. 72, no. 5, Sept. 2001, pp. 573-7, https://annaliitalianidichirurgia.it/index.php/aic/article/view/1383.
Section
Review