Preoperative radiotherapy in resectable rectal cancer: a prospective randomized study of two different approaches.

Background: Preoperative radiotherapy in resectable rectal cancer has a number of potential advantages, most importantly reducing local recurrence, increasing survival and down-staging effect.

Purpose: This prospective study was designed to compare between two different approaches of preoperative radiotherapy, either short course or long course radiotherapy. The primary endpoint is to evaluate the local recurrence rate, overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS).