Rectal cancer: steps towards tailored treatment

Treatment options for rectal cancer include surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. In recent years, there has been an increased interest in organ-saving treatment of rectal cancer. This dissertation is aimed at tailoring the treatment of patients with rectal cancer. Three aspects were studied, namely the use of PET scans to make radiation therapy more accurate, the development of models to predict reactions to radiation therapy and the intensifying of radiation therapy to increase the chances of the tumour reacting to treatment. PET imaging proved to be useful in making radiation therapy more accurate. Furthermore, it was found that reactions to radiation therapy can be predicted by using PET scans and blood samples, among other things.