Prognostic factors for postoperative morbidity and tumour response after neoadjuvant chemoradiation followed by resection for rectal cancer.

Background And Purpose: In patients with locally advanced rectal cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiation followed by rectal resection, postoperative morbidity is a significant clinical problem. Pathologic complete tumour response seems to give the best prognosis in the long term. Little is known about the factors that are associated with postoperative complications and pathologic complete response.