title: Multidisciplinary treatment of locally advanced rectal cancer: a literature review. Part 1.
abstract: In Western countries, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in terms of incidence and mortality. The management of rectal cancer has undergone and continues to undergo significant evolutions. In the last two decades, new multimodality strategies have been developed. Multimodality treatments have improved the prognosis of locally advanced rectal cancer with local recurrences decreasing from 40% to < 10% and overall survival increasing from 50% to 75% in the last 40 years. This review discusses the role of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy regimens used in the standard combined modality treatment programs for rectal cancer and focuses on the ongoing research to improve these regimens.
authors.affiliation: Università Politecnica delle Marche, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Ospedali Riuniti Umberto I-GM Lancisi-G Salesi di Ancona, Medical Oncology Unit, Ancona, Italy. r.berardi@univpm.it
authors.forename: Rossana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Berardi
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Maccaroni
authors.forename: Azzurra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Onofri
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Giampieri
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bittoni
authors.forename: Mirco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pistelli
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scartozzi
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pierantoni
authors.forename: Maristella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bianconi
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cascinu
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant / Q000379:methods*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D015996:Survival Rate