title: Can radiotherapy alone be effective for treating anastomotic recurrence of rectal cancer? When the patient decides?
abstract: Among pelvic recurrences of rectal cancer following surgical resection, anastomotic recurrences are relatively rare; the literature reports an incidence between 2.4% and 12% of all patients who underwent colorectal anastomosis. The authors report the case of a patient already treated for an early rectal cancer who 1 year after surgery developed a 2 cm recurrence at the colorectal anastomosis. As he refused reoperation, he underwent radiation therapy only (54 Gy) with complete remission. After 8 years of follow-up, the patient is free of any further distant or local recurrence. The authors did not find, to the best of their knowledge, in the literature any similar case of a patient with anastomotic rectal recurrence who has been positively treated by radiotherapy only. The authors focus on its diagnostic and therapeutic problems: although surgical reresection is undoubtedly the best therapeutic option, in the case reported here, radiotherapy alone proved effective.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences, Organ Transplantation, and Advanced Technologies, University of Catania, Catania, Italy. g.lidestri@uni.ct.it
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li Destri
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cocuzza
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Privitera
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Cataldo
mesh_terms: D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical / Q000379:methods; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery