title: [Evaluation of chemoradiotherapy for the treatment of rectal cancer].
abstract: Chemoradiotherapy for the treatment of primary rectal cancers has been regarded as an effective adjuvant for surgical procedures. It has been expected to reduce local recurrence, increase the chance of sphincter-preserving operation and improve survival. However, recent advances in surgical technique for rectal cancers have reduced the local recurrence rate to no more than 10%, where the question may arise of whether adjuvant chemoradiotherapy is indeed necessary. Another matter to be elucidated is why adjuvant chemoradiotherapy does not necessarily improve overall survival for rectal cancers even when the local recurrence rate is reduced. In the treatment of locally recurrent lesions, either heavy ion radiotherapy or proton beam therapy is expected to be an effective alternative to the surgical procedure.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of General Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University.
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koda
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miyazaki
mesh_terms: D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D006801:Humans; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy; D011788:Quality of Life; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D015996:Survival Rate