Are we overtreating some patients with rectal cancer?

The definition of overtreatment of rectal cancer is controversial, and thus it is difficult to accurately quantitate its prevalence. All components of rectal cancer treatment are associated with significant potential for morbidity and dysfunction that may have a negative impact on the patient's quality of life. No one would disagree with the tenet that overtreatment should be avoided whenever possible. Despite that consensus, little attention is given in the literature to the issues of overtreatment of rectal cancer. This review article presents a variety of clinical scenarios and summarizes available data demonstrating that overtreatment of some patients with rectal cancer is occurring on a regular basis. It is hoped that this will stimulate clinicians to critically review their own practices to eliminate such overtreatment. Development of new clinical trials to determine whether current practice guidelines are promoting overtreatment of selected rectal cancer patients is proposed.