Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

Association of Adjuvant Chemotherapy With Overall Survival in Patients With Rectal Cancer and Pathologic Complete Response Following Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy and Resection.

JAMA Oncology 2018 July 2
Importance: Adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) in patients with rectal cancer with pathologic complete response following neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) and resection is recommended by treatment guidelines. However, its role in this setting is equivocal because data supporting benefits are lacking.

Objective: To compare the overall survival (OS) between AC and postoperative observation (OB) in patients with rectal cancer with pathologic complete response following nCRT and resection.

Design, Setting, and Participants: We identified a cohort of patients with rectal cancer and a complete pathological response (ypT0N0) after nCRT in the National Cancer Database between 2006 and 2012. Patients who received AC were compared with OB patients by propensity score matching. Overall survival was compared using the stratified log-rank test and stratified Cox regression model. The outcomes after AC vs OB were also evaluated in patient subgroups. The data analysis was completed in June 2017.

Exposures: Adjuvant chemotherapy and OB.

Main Outcomes and Measures: Overall survival.

Results: We identified 2764 patients (mean [SD] age, 60.0 [12.3] years; 40% female) with clinical stage II or III resected adenocarcinoma of the rectum who had received nCRT and were complete responders (ypT0N0M0). Of this cohort, 741 patients in the AC group were matched by propensity score to 741 patients who underwent OB. The AC cohort had better OS compared with the OB cohort (hazard ratio, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.32-0.79). The 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS rates were 99.7%, 97.1%, and 94.7% for the AC group and 99.2%, 93.6%, and 88.4% for the OB group (P = .005). In subgroup analysis, patients with clinical stage T3/T4 and node-positive disease benefited most from AC (hazard ratio, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.25-0.91).

Conclusions and Relevance: Adjuvant chemotherapy was associated with improved OS in patients with pathologic complete response after nCRT for resected locally advanced rectal cancer. This study supports the use of AC in this setting where there is currently paucity of data.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

Related Resources

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app