“Defendit Numerus”: A Pooled Analysis of 6145 Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer Treated with Preoperative Chemoradiotherapy

• Published in: Journal of clinical medicine Vol. 13; no. 18; p. 5456
• Main Authors: Giuliani, Jacopo, Mandarà, Marta, Muraro, Marco, Rampello, Elvira, Franceschetto, Antonella, Fiorica, Francesco
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 14.09.2024; MDPI
• Subjects: Algorithms; Cancer therapies; Care and treatment; Chemotherapy; Clinical trials; Colorectal cancer; Diagnosis; Dosage and administration; Metastasis; Neoadjuvant therapy; Patient outcomes; Patients; Radiation therapy; Radiotherapy; Systematic Review; Tumors; Italy; fluoruracil-based chemotherapy; radiochemotherapy; control group; rectal cancer
• ISSN: 2077-0383; 2077-0383
• DOI: 10.3390/jcm13185456

Objective: The optimal management of rectal cancer remains a subject of ongoing research. This meta-analysis of individual patient data assessed the benefit of chemoradiotherapy (fluorouracil-based) in local advanced rectal cancer: disease-free survival and overall survival. Methods: We pooled the data of 6145 patients from 24 studies of rectal cancer who received neoadjuvant radiotherapy with concomitant fluorouracil or capecitabine and surgery. The PRISMA 2020 abstract checklist was followed. Individual participant survival was reconstructed with an algorithm from published Kaplan–Meier curves. Results: The median OS was not reached; the mean survival time was 135.4 months (127.9–141.5). The median DFS was 176.9 months, and the mean disease-free survival time was 122.6 months (111.7–131.9). Conclusions: We provided a benchmark for future studies on rectal cancer treatment. The present results can be used in decision-making for locally advanced rectal cancer patients.