Is local excision an appropriate treatment modality in patients presenting with early-stage (cT1 N0 M0) rectal adenocarcinoma?

Background: Prior studies evaluating the safety and efficacy of local excision relative to surgical resection in early-stage rectal adenocarcinoma have primarily included low rectal cancers treated with abdomi-noperineal resection as control comparison cohorts. The role of local excision in early-stage rectal adenocarcinoma is incompletely defined.Methods: We queried the National Cancer Database to identify patients with cT1 N0 M0 rectal adeno-carcinoma between 2004 and 2019. Patients undergoing abdominoperineal resection were excluded. Multivariable regression was used to identify factors associated with use of local excision instead of low anterior resection. Patients undergoing local excision were propensity score matched for age, sex, de-mographic characteristics, Charlson-Deyo comorbidity class score, and tumor grade and size to those undergoing low anterior resection. Short-term clinical outcomes and 5-year overall survival for matched cohorts were compared by standard methods.Results: A total of 5,693 patients met inclusion criteria; 1,973 patients underwent local excision and 3,720 low anterior resection. Age (adjusted odds ratio 1.26; 95% confidence interval, 1.17-1.37), tumor histology (poorly differentiated histology: adjusted odds ratio 0.66; 95% confidence interval, 0.51-0.86), and size (>4 cm: adjusted odds ratio 0.20; 95% confidence interval, 0.16-0.25) were associated with choice of intervention. On comparison of matched cohorts, patients undergoing LE demonstrated shorter hospital stay (2.4 +/- 9.8 vs 5.6 +/- 8.1 days; P < .001) and lower readmission rate (4% vs 7%; P 1/4 .002) but higher margin-positive resection rates (8% vs 2%; P < .001). Overall survival profiles for patients un-dergoing local excision were comparable with those for low anterior resection.Conclusion: In patients with cT1 N0 M0 rectal adenocarcinoma, local excision is associated with a higher margin-positive resection rate than low anterior resection but affords accelerated postprocedure re-covery and comparable rates of overall survival. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Automated summary

This study compared the safety and efficacy of local excision with surgical resection in early-stage rectal adenocarcinoma. The results showed that although local excision had a higher margin-positive resection rate, it allowed for accelerated postprocedure recovery and comparable overall survival.