title: Chemoradiation for rectal cancer: rationale, approaches, and controversies.
abstract: The standard adjuvant treatment of cT3 and/or N+ rectal cancer is preoperative chemoradiation. However, there are many controversies regarding this approach. These controversies include the role of short course radiation, whether postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy is necessary for all patients, and if the type of surgery following chemoradiation should be based on the response rate. More accurate imaging techniques and/or molecular markers may help identify patients with positive pelvic nodes to reduce the chance of overtreatment with preoperative therapy. Will more effective systemic agents both improve the results of radiation, as well as modify the need for pelvic radiation? These questions and others remain active areas of clinical investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation and Cellular Oncology, University of Chicago Medical Center, 5841 South Maryland Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. bruce.minsky@uchospitals.edu
authors.forename: Bruce D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Minsky
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D006801:Humans; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000532:radiotherapy*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents