title: [Effect of preoperative long course radiotherapy on anastomotic leakage after low anterior resection for rectal cancer: a Meta-analysis].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the effect of preoperative long course radiotherapy (RT) on anastomotic leakage (AL) after low anterior resection(LAR) for rectal cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medline, EMBASE, China National Knowledge Infrastructure,the Cochrane Library databases and other databases were searched for relevant studies. Correlation between preoperative long course RT and AL after LAR for rectal cancer was examined. Review Manager 5.2 software was used to pool raw data and test the heterogeneity of existing studies and to calculate the incorporated odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95%CI). Finally, forest plots and funnel plots were created to allow for visual comparison of the results or the effect of publication bias.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 881 studies were identified and 10 studies (n=7829) were eligible for the meta-analysis, including 2581 cases of preoperative RT, and 5248 cases of surgery alone without RT. There was no significant difference in anastomotic leakage rate between the two groups (OR:1.17, 95%CI:0.98-1.39, P=0.09).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Preoperative long course RT did not increase the risk of postoperative AL after LAR in patients with rectal cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Minimally Invasive Gastrointestinal Surgery, Beijing Cancer Hospital and Institute, Peking University Cancer Hospital, Peking University School of Oncology, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Beijing 100142, China. suxiangqian@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiangqian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Su
mesh_terms: D057868:Anastomotic Leak / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology; D011300:Preoperative Care; D011859:Radiography; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery