Pathologic Assessment of Rectal Carcinoma after Neoadjuvant Radio(chemo)therapy: Prognostic Implications.
Neoadjuvant radio(chemo)therapy is increasingly used in rectal cancer and induces a number of morphologic changes that affect prognostication after curative surgery, thereby creating new challenges for surgical pathologists, particularly in evaluating morphologic changes and tumour response to preoperative treatment. Surgical pathologists play an important role in determining the many facets of rectal carcinoma patient care after neoadjuvant treatment. These range from proper handling of macroscopic specimens to accurate microscopic evaluation of pathological features associated with patients' prognosis. This review presents the well-established pathological prognostic indicators and discusses challenging features in order to provide both surgical pathologists and treating physicians with a checklist that is useful in a neoadjuvant setting.
Department of Pathology, Calmette Hospital, No. 3, Monivong Boulevard (93), Phnom Penh 12201, Cambodia ; Department of Pathology, Ghent University Hospital, 9000 Gent, Belgium.
Monirath
M
Hav
Department of Pathology, Calmette Hospital, No. 3, Monivong Boulevard (93), Phnom Penh 12201, Cambodia.
Louis
L
Libbrecht
Department of Pathology, Calmette Hospital, No. 3, Monivong Boulevard (93), Phnom Penh 12201, Cambodia.
Liesbeth
L
Ferdinande
Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Ghent University Hospital, 9000 Gent, Belgium.
Karen
K
Geboes
Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Ghent University Hospital, 9000 Gent, Belgium.
Piet
P
Pattyn
Department of Pathology, Calmette Hospital, No. 3, Monivong Boulevard (93), Phnom Penh 12201, Cambodia.
Claude A
CA
Cuvelier
D002454:Cell Differentiation; D059248:Chemoradiotherapy; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D009077:Mucins / Q000378:metabolism; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D009077:Mucins