Clinical nature and prognosis of locally recurrent rectal cancer after total mesorectal excision with or without preoperative radiotherapy.
OBJECTIVE
To document the clinical nature and prognosis of locally recurrent rectal cancer after total mesorectal excision (TME) with or without 5 x 5 Gy preoperative radiotherapy (PRT) and to identify patient-, disease-, and treatment-related factors associated with differences in prognosis after local recurrence.


METHODS
For 96 Dutch patients with a local recurrence who participated in a multicenter randomized clinical trial, data on treatments and follow-up were gathered from surgeons and radiation and medical oncologists. Twenty-three patients (24%) had previously been treated with PRT plus TME, and 73 patients (76%) had been treated with TME alone. Eighty-one patients (84%) were followed until death; median follow-up time of the alive patients after local recurrence was 21 months (range, 5 to 48 months).


RESULTS
Survival after local recurrence in the PRT + TME group was significantly shorter than in the TME group (median survival, 6.1 v 15.9 months; hazard ratio for death, 2.1; P =.008). Patients with a local recurrence in the PRT + TME group had distant metastases more often (74% v 40%; P =.004), underwent surgical resection of local recurrence less often (17% v 35%; P =.11), and received radiotherapy for local recurrence at a total dose >/= 45 Gy less often (4% v 42%; P =.001) than patients without PRT. In a multivariate analysis, the difference in survival after local recurrence between randomization groups was no longer statistically significant (hazard ratio for death of PRT, 1.53; P =.16).


CONCLUSIONS
The clinical nature and prognosis of patients with locally recurrent rectal cancer has changed since the introduction of PRT. The majority of patients who present with a local recurrence after previous PRT have simultaneous distant metastases, and median survival has decreased to 6 months.
van den Brink
Mandy
M
Department of Medical Decision Making, Leiden University Medical Center, PO Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, the Netherlands.
Stiggelbout
Anne M
AM
van den Hout
Wilbert B
WB
Kievit
Job
J
Klein Kranenbarg
Elma
E
Marijnen
Corrie A M
CA
Nagtegaal
Iris D
ID
Rutten
Harm J T
HJ
Wiggers
Theo
T
van de Velde
Cornelis J H
CJ
D003082:Colectomy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D011379:Prognosis; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery*; D015996:Survival Rate