Timing of surgery after long-course neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for rectal cancer: a systematic review of the literature.

Background: Neoadjuvant long-course chemoradiotherapy is commonly used to improve the local control and resectability of locally advanced rectal cancer, with surgery performed after an interval of a number of weeks.

Objective: We report an evidence-based systematic review of published data supporting the optimal time to perform surgical resection after long-course neoadjuvant therapy.

Data Sources: A systematic literature search was undertaken of the MEDLINE and Embase electronic databases from 1995 to 2012.