Rectal Cancer pp 223-234 | Cite as

Radiation Therapy: Adjuvant vs. Neoadjuvant Therapy

  • Rolf Sauer
  • Claus Rödel
Chapter
First Online:
Part of the Current Clinical Oncology book series (CCO)

Abstract

Historically, combined chemoradiotherapy has been shown to improve local control and overall survival rates compared to surgery alone in the adjuvant setting. The primary advantage of an adjuvant approach is improved patient selection based on operative and pathologic staging. Comparatively, a neoadjuvant approach decreases rates of acute and chronic toxicity, facilitates tumor downing staging in patients who might otherwise require abdominoperineal resection, and improves local control rates. This has been confirmed by recent randomized studies which demonstrated improved disease- and treatment-related outcomes using a neoadjuvant vs. adjuvant approach. Presently, ongoing studies are evaluating the integration of novel systemic agents in combination with radiation therapy in the neoadjuvant setting.

Keywords

Rectal Cancer Sphincter Preservation Local Failure Rate Rectal Cancer Treatment Local Relapse Rate 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Humana Press 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  • Rolf Sauer
    • 1
  • Claus Rödel
    • 2
  1. 1.Department of Radiation TherapyUniversity of ErlangenErlangenGermany
  2. 2.Department of Radiation Therapy and OncologyUniversity of FrankfurtFrankfurtGermany

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