Effect of preoperative treatment strategies on the outcome of patients with clinical T3, non-metastasized rectal cancer: A comparison between Dutch and Canadian expert centers

A. J. Breugom, T. A. Vermeer, C. B. M. van den Broek, T. Vuong, E. Bastiaannet, L. Azoulay, O. M. Dekkers, T. Niazi, H. A. van den Berg, H. J. T. Rutten, C. J. H. van de Velde*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

High-dose-rate brachytherapy (HDRBT) appears to be associated with less treatment-related toxicity compared with external beam radiotherapy in patients with rectal cancer. The present study compared the effect of preoperative treatment strategies on overall survival, cancer-specific deaths, and local recurrences between a Dutch and Canadian expert center with different preoperative treatment strategies.We included 145 Dutch and 141 Canadian patients with cT3, non-metastasized rectal cancer. All patients from Canada were preoperatively treated with HDRBT. The preoperative treatment strategy for Dutch patients consisted of either no preoperative treatment, short-course radiotherapy, or chemoradiotherapy. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) comparing overall survival. We adjusted for age, cN stage, (y)pT stage, comorbidity, and type of surgery. Primary endpoint was overall survival. Secondary endpoints were cancer-specific deaths and local recurrences.Five-year overall survival was 70.9% (95% CI 62.6%-77.7%) in Dutch patients compared with 86.9% (80.1%-91.6%) in Canadian patients, resulting in an adjusted HR of 0.70 (95% CI 0.39-1.26; p = 0.233). Of 145 Dutch patients, 6.9% (95% CI 2.8%-11.0%) had a local recurrence and 17.9% (95% CI 11.7%-24.2%) patients died of rectal cancer, compared with 4.3% (95% CI 0.9%-7.5%) local recurrences and 10.6% (95% CI 5.5%-15.7%) rectal cancer deaths out of 141 Canadian patients.We did not detect statistically significant differences in overall survival between a Dutch and Canadian expert center with different treatment strategies. This finding needs to be further investigated in a randomized controlled trial.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1039-1044
JournalEuropean Journal of Surgical Oncology
Volume41
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2015

Keywords

  • Rectal cancer
  • External beam radiotherapy
  • High-dose-rate brachytherapy
  • The Netherlands
  • Canada
  • Outcome

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