Local recurrence after five years is associated with preoperative chemoradiotherapy treatment in patients diagnosed with stage II and III rectal cancer.

Aim: To asses the moment of local recurrence and its influence on the appraisal of the results of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT).

Methods: We evaluated 317 patients with a preoperative diagnosis of stage II or III rectal cancer who underwent rectal resection. Gender, age, neoadjuvant treatment, circumferencial resection margin, adjuvant treatment, pretreatment carcinoembryonic antigen level, tumor location, TNM stage, lymph node retrieval, abdominoperineal resection, and lymphatic or vascular infiltration were registered prospectively.

Pathologic response of primary rectal cancer to oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy.

Management of stage IV rectal cancer is controversial, and different strategies may be useful. Preoperative chemotherapy for liver metastases might cause pathologic changes over the primary rectal tumor. In this study, the authors show the pathologic regression of the primary rectal tumor after neoadjuvant chemotherapy treatment.

Stent or surgery for incurable obstructive colorectal cancer: an individualized decision.

Introduction: In the setting of stage-IV obstructive colorectal cancer, self-expanding metallic stents (SEMS) placement and palliative surgery may be appropriate options. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the long-term results of surgery compared with stent implantation and to identify patients in whom one of these options can provide more benefit.

Materials And Methods: From November 2000 to November 2008, 98 patients with incurable stage-IV colorectal cancer were treated with palliative surgery (n=53) or SEMS (n=45).

[Association between microsatellite instability and clinico-pathological characteristics in sporadic colon cancer].

Background And Objective: Currently, colon cancer is a leading cause of cancer death world-wide. It progresses according to three molecular pathways, named suppressor, mutador and methylator. Microsatellite instability is a hallmark of the lack of reparation, of DNA mismatches and it characterizes a subset of colon tumors (unstable tumors, MSI).