Neoadjuvant treatment in terms of preoperative radiotherapy reduces local recurrence in rectal cancer, but this improvement has little if any impact on overall survival. Currently performed optimal quality-controlled total mesorectal excision (TME) surgery for patients in the trial setting can be associated with very low local recurrence rates of less than 10% whether the patients receive radio...

BACKGROUND Recurrence with distant metastases has become the predominant pattern of failure in locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC), thus the integration of new antineoplastic agents into preoperative fluoropyrimidine-based chemo-radiotherapy represents a clinical challenge to implement an intensified therapeutic strategy. The present study examined the combination of the histone deacetylase i...

Preoperative radiotherapy lowers local recurrence rates after rectal cancer surgery, as seen in several randomised trials. Postoperative radiotherapy is also effective, although a higher radiation dose is required. In addition, preoperative, but not postoperative (unless combined with chemotherapy) radiotherapy also improves survival slightly. Since the toxicity profile also favours preoperativ...

Objective The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcome of preoperative short-course radiotherapy for rectal cancer patients. Methods The study group comprised 210 patients with pathologically proven resectable rectal cancer. Between 2001 and 2013, they were treated preoperatively with short-course radiotherapy (25 Gy delivered in five fractions), followed by total mesorectal...

BACKGROUND The use of preoperative chemoirradiation is the commonest treatment strategy employed in Malaysia for locally advanced rectal cancer. We need to determine the local control and survival rates for comparison with established rates in the literature. MATERIALS AND METHODS This retrospective study analyzed all newly diagnosed patients with rectal adenocarcinoma who underwent long cour...

BACKGROUND Carcinoma of the esophagus is an aggressive malignancy with an increasing incidence. Its virulence, in terms of symptoms and mortality, justifies a continued search for optimal therapy. The large and growing number of patients affected, the high mortality rates, the worldwide geographic variation in practice, and the large body of good quality research warrants a systematic review wi...