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Treatment standards for patients with locally advanced rectal cancer might be updated. The reason lies in the results of RAPIDO research, published at the ASCO 2020 congress.
Local control on this kind of cancer improved over the past few years. However, systemic relapses remain high, even with adjuvant chemotherapy. This occurs, possibly, due to low adherence to this conduct. In this context, the phase III randomized research (n=920) tested, on its experimental branch, a hypofractionated (short-term) radiotherapy regimen followed by chemotherapy before total mesorectal excision (TME). According to Oncoclinicas Group Botafogo (Rio de Janeiro) clinical oncology doctor Flora Moraes Lino da Silva, results showed improvement not only in complete pathologic response rate comparisons, but also illness-free survival rates, which reinforces recommendation of not just short term radiotherapy but also total neoadjuvant therapy as an option for these patients. “With such robust data, this protocol is soon expected to become standard, specially for very advanced rectal tumors”, concludes Diego Chaves Rezende Morais, radio-oncologist doctor at Recife Radiotherapy, an Oncoclinicas Group clinic in Pernambuco.
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