Journal
BRITISH JOURNAL OF CANCER
Volume 97, Issue 10, Pages 1333-1337Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/sj.bjc.6604042
Keywords
locally advanced rectal cancer; neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy; capecitabine; circumferential resection margin
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
There is increasing evidence supporting the use of preoperative chemoradiotherapy in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer in an attempt to facilitate complete surgical resection with clear margins. We describe our experience of using a 5-day per week regime of preoperative capecitabine chemoradiotherapy. Between November 2004 and September 2006, 70 patients with MRI-defined locally advanced rectal cancer were selected for treatment. Capecitabine was given at a dose of 900 mg m(-2) for 5 days per week combined with 45 Gy of radiotherapy in 25 doses. This regime was well tolerated with 89% of our patients receiving the full dose of chemotherapy and 96% receiving the full dose of radiotherapy. Ninety-three per cent proceeded to macroscopically complete surgical resection. The pathological complete response rate was 9.2% with a node-negative rate of 66%. A negative circumferential margin was achieved by 79% of the patients who underwent resection. Compared to studies using a 7-day per week capecitabine schedule, our results show increased compliance and less dose reductions with comparable pathological outcome.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available