Swedish Rectal Cancer Trial: long lasting benefits from radiotherapy on survival and local recurrence rate.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the long-term effects on survival and recurrence rates of preoperative radiotherapy in the treatment of curatively operated rectal cancer patients.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Of 1,168 randomly assigned patients in the Swedish Rectal Cancer Trial between 1987 and 1990, 908 had curative surgery; 454 of these patients had surgery alone, and 454 were administered preoperative radiotherapy (25 Gy in 5 days) followed by surgery within 1 week. Follow-up was performed by matching against three Swedish nationwide registries (the Swedish Cancer Register, the Hospital Discharge Register, and the Cause of Death Register).

RESULTS: Median follow-up time was 13 years (range, 3 to 15 years). The overall survival rate in the irradiated group was 38% v 30% in the nonirradiated group (P = .008). The cancer-specific survival rate in the irradiated group was 72% v 62% in the nonirradiated group (P = .03), and the local recurrence rate was 9% v 26% (P < .001), respectively. The reduction of local recurrence rates was observed at all tumor heights, although it was not statistically significant for tumors greater than 10 cm from the anal verge.

CONCLUSION: Preoperative radiotherapy with 25 Gy in 1 week before curative surgery for rectal cancer is beneficial for overall and cancer-specific survival and local recurrence rates after long-term follow-up.