Although intracorporeal anastomosis has been demonstrated to be safe and effective after right colectomy, limited data are available about its efficacy after left colectomy for colon cancer located ...in splenic flexure. A multi-institutional audit was designed, including 92 patients who underwent laparoscopic left colectomy with intracorporeal anastomosis (IA) compared with 89 matched patients who underwent a laparoscopic left colectomy with extracorporeal anastomosis (EA). There was no significant difference in terms of age, sex, BMI, and ASA score between the two groups. Post-surgical history and stage of disease according to AJCC/UICC TNM were also similar. IA and EA groups demonstrated similar oncologic radicality in terms of the number of lymph nodes harvested (18.5 ± 9 vs. 17.5 ± 8.4;
p
= 0.48). Recovery after surgery was also better in patients who underwent IA, as confirmed by the shorter time to flatus in the IA group (2.6 ± 1.1 days vs. 3.4 ± 1.2 days;
p
< 0.001) and higher post-operative pain expressed in the mean VAS Scale in the EA group (1.7 ± 2.1 vs. 3.5 ± 1.6;
p
< 0.001). Laparoscopic left colectomy with intracorporeal anastomosis was associated with a lower rate of post-operative complications (OR 6.7, 95% CI 2.2–20;
p
= 0.001). However, when stratifying according to Clavien classification, the difference was consistently confirmed for less severe (class I and II) complications (OR 7.6, 95% CI 2.5–23,
p
= 0.001) but not for class III, IV, and V complications (OR 1.8, 95% CI 0.1–16.9;
p
= 0.59). Our results were consistent to hypothesize that a complete laparoscopic approach could be considered a safe method to perform laparoscopic left colectomy with the advantage of a guaranteed faster recovery after surgery. Further randomized clinical trials are needed to obtain a more definitive conclusion.
Neoadjuvant therapy is able to reduce local recurrence in rectal cancer. Immediate surgery after short course radiotherapy allows only for minimal downstaging. We investigated the effect of delayed ...surgery after short-course radiotherapy at different time intervals before surgery, in patients affected by rectal cancer.
From January 2003 to December 2013 sixty-seven patients with the following characteristics have been selected: clinical (c) stage T3N0 ≤ 12 cm from the anal verge and with circumferential resection margin > 5 mm (by magnetic resonance imaging); cT2, any N, < 5 cm from anal verge; and patients facing tumors with enlarged nodes and/or CRM+ve who resulted unfit for chemo-radiation, were also included. Patients underwent preoperative short-course radiotherapy with different interval to surgery were divided in three groups: A (within 6 weeks), B (between 6 and 8 weeks) and C (after more than 8 weeks). Hystopatolgical response to radiotherapy was measured by Mandard's modified tumor regression grade (TRG).
All patients completed the scheduled treatment. Sixty-six patients underwent surgery. Fifty-three of which (80.3%) received a sphincter saving procedure. Downstaging occurred in 41 cases (62.1%). The analysis of subgroups showed an increasing prevalence of TRG 1-2 prolonging the interval to surgery (group A-16.7%, group B-36.8% and 54.3% in group C; p value 0.023).
Preoperative short-course radiotherapy is able to downstage rectal cancer if surgery is delayed. A higher rate of TRG 1-2 can be obtained if interval to surgery is prolonged to more than 8 weeks.
In patients with locally advanced rectal cancer treated by neoadjuvant chemoradiation, pathological complete response in the surgical specimen is associated with favourable long-term oncologic ...outcome. Based on this observation, nonoperative management is being explored in the subset of patients with clinical complete response. Whereas, patients with poor response have a high risk of local and distant recurrence, and appear to receive no benefit from standard neoadjuvant chemoradiation. Therefore, in order to develop alternative treatment strategies for non responding patients, predictive and prognostic factors are highly needed. Accumulating clinical observations indicate that elevated platelet count is associated with poor outcome in different type of tumors. In this study we investigated the predictive and prognostic impact of elevated platelet count on pathological response and long-term oncologic outcome in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer undergoing neoadjuvant chemoradiation.
A total of 965 patients were selected from prospectively maintained databases of seven Centers within the SICO Colorectal Cancer Network. Patients were divided into two groups based on a pre-neoadjuvant chemoradiation platelet count cut-off value of 300 × 10
/L identified by receiver operating characteristic curve considering complete pathological response as the outcome.
Complete pathological response rate was lower in patients with elevated platelet count (12.8% vs. 22.1%, p = 0.001). Mean follow-up was 50.1 months. Comparing patients with elevated platelet count with patients with not elevated platelet count, 5-year overall survival was 69.5% vs.76.5% (p = 0.016), and 5-year disease free survival was 63.0% vs. 68.9% (p = 0.019). Local recurrence rate was higher in patients with elevated platelet count (11.1% vs. 5.3%, p = 0.001), as higher was the occurrence of distant metastasis (23.9% vs. 16.4%, p = 0.007). At multivariate analysis of potential prognostic factors EPC was independently associated with worse overall survival (HR 1.40, 95% CI 1.06-1.86), and disease free survival (HR 1.37, 95% CI 1.07-1.76).
In locally advanced rectal cancer elevated platelet count before neoadjuvant chemoradiation is a negative predictive and prognostic factor which might help to identify subsets of patients with more aggressive tumors to be proposed for alternative therapeutic strategies.
The history of Lynch syndrome changed definitively in 2000, when a study published in Gastroenterology demonstrated a significant reduction in mortality among individuals with Lynch syndrome who ...undergo regular endoscopic surveillance. As a consequence of this clinical evidence, all scientific societies developed guidelines, which highlighted the role of colonoscopy in the management of Lynch syndrome, especially for individuals at high risk of colorectal cancer. Over the years, these guidelines were modified and updated. Specialized networks were developed in order to standardize endoscopic surveillance programs and evaluate all the clinical data retrieved by the results of colonoscopies performed for both the screening and the surveillance of individuals with Lynch syndrome. Recent data show that the impact of colonoscopy (with polypectomy) on the prevention of colorectal cancer in individuals with Lynch syndrome is less significant than previously thought. This narrative review summarizes the current discussion, the hypotheses elaborated and the algorithms depicted for the management of individuals with Lynch Syndrome on the basis of the recent data published in the literature.
Colorectal cancer has been ranked the third and second most prevalent of all cancers in men and women, respectively, and it represents the fourth most common cause of cancer deaths. In 2012, there ...were 1.4 million estimated cases of colorectal cancer worldwide, and 700,000 estimated deaths, which implies significant impact on public health, especially in economically-developed countries. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of tumors, although this has been accompanied by decreased mortality, due to more appropriate and available information, earlier diagnosis, and improvements in treatment. Colorectal cancers are characterized by great genotypic and phenotypic heterogeneity, including tumor microenvironment and interactions between healthy and cancer cells. All of these traits confer a unique peculiarity to each tumor, which can thus be considered as an individual disease. Well conducted molecular and clinical characterization of each colorectal cancer is essential with a view to the implementation of precision oncology, and thus personalized care. This last aims at standardization of therapeutic plans chosen according to the genetic background of each specific neoplasm, to increase overall survival and reduce treatment side effects. Thus, prognostic and predictive molecular biomarkers assume a critical role in the characterization of colorectal cancer and in the determination of the most appropriate therapy.
Background: Currently, 45–55% of rectal cancer patients receive preoperative chemo- radio-therapy for Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer (LARC). The idea of our study is to use Electrochemotherapy (ECT) ...before surgery, in patients with major clinical response after neoadjuvant therapy, to allow for a more conservative surgical approach. Objective: To evaluate the increase of the complete response rate after neoadjuvant treatment in LARC and to spare organ function due to total mesorectal excision (TME). Patients and Methods: This is a Phase II randomized controlled trial enrolling 70 patients that will be developed in two stages. In the first step, 28 patients will be enrolled: 14 of these will receive ECT for four weeks after neo-adjuvant treatment and then local excision (treatment group) and 14 patients will receive neo-adjuvant treatment and then local excision (control group). If an increase of response rate is observed in the first stage, and/or feasibility/safety is demonstrated, the second stage of the trial will be performed, enrolling an additional 42 patients. The treatment response. in both the control arm and the treatment arm, will be assessed using the histopathological tumor regression grade on tissue specimens after local excision.
Previous studies indicate that FDG PET/CT may predict pathological response in patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemo-radiotherapy for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). Aim of the current study ...is evaluate if pathological response can be similarly predicted in LARC patients after short course radiation therapy alone.
Thirty-three patients with cT2-3, N0-2, M0 rectal adenocarcinoma treated with hypo fractionated short course neoadjuvant RT (5x5 Gy) with delayed surgery (SCRTDS) were prospectively studied. All patients underwent 3 PET/CT studies at baseline, 10 days from RT end (early), and 53 days from RT end (delayed). Maximal standardized uptake value (SUVmax), mean standardized uptake value (SUVmean) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) of the primary tumor were measured and recorded at each PET/CT study. We use logistic regression analysis to aggregate different measures of metabolic response to predict the pathological response in the course of SCRTDS.
We provide straightforward formulas to classify response and estimate the probability of being a major responder (TRG1-2) or a complete responder (TRG1) for each individual. The formulas are based on the level of TLG at the early PET and on the overall proportional reduction of TLG between baseline and delayed PET studies.
This study demonstrates that in the course of SCRTDS it is possible to estimate the probabilities of pathological tumor responses on the basis of PET/CT with FDG. Our formulas make it possible to assess the risks associated to LARC borne by a patient in the course of SCRTDS. These risk assessments can be balanced against other health risks associated with further treatments and can therefore be used to make informed therapy adjustments during SCRTDS.
Background:
Our aim was to investigate preoperative chemoradiation therapy (pCRT) response in locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) comparing standardized index of shape (SIS) obtained from dynamic ...contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) with intravoxel-incoherent-motion-modelling-derived parameters by diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI).
Materials and methods:
Eighty-eight patients with LARC were subjected to MRI before and after pCRT. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), tissue diffusion (Dt), pseudodiffusion (Dp) and perfusion fraction (f) were calculated and percentage changes ∆ADC, ∆Dt, ∆Dp, ∆f were computed. SIS was derived comparing DCE-MRI pre- and post-pCRT. Nonparametric tests and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were performed.
Results:
A total of 52 patients were classified as responders (tumour regression grade; TRG ⩽ 2) and 36 as not-responders (TRG > 3). Mann–Whitney U test showed statistically significant differences in SIS, ∆ADC and ∆Dt between responders and not-responders and between complete responders (19 patients with TRG = 1) versus incomplete responders. The best parameters to discriminate responders by nonresponders were SIS and ∆ADC, with an accuracy of 91% and 82% (cutoffs of −5.2% and 18.7%, respectively); the best parameters to detect pathological complete responders were SIS, ∆f and ∆Dp with an accuracy of 78% (cutoffs of 38.5%, 60.0% and 83.0%, respectively). No increase of performance was observed by combining linearly each possible couple of parameters or combining all parameters.
Conclusion:
SIS allows assessment of preoperative treatment response with high accuracy guiding the surgeon versus more or less conservative treatment. DWI-derived parameters reached less accuracy compared with SIS and combining linearly DCE- and DWI-derived parameters; no increase of accuracy was obtained.
Background: In patient with a complete or near-complete clinical response after neoadjuvant treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer, the organ-sparing approach watch & wait (W&W) or local ...excision (LE) is a possible alternative to major rectal resection. Although, in case of local recurrence or regrowth, after these treatments, a total mesorectal excision (TME) can be operated. Method: In this retrospective study, we selected 120 patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) who had a complete or near-complete clinical response after neoadjuvant treatment, from June 2011 to June 2021. Among them, 41 patients were managed by W&W approach, whereas 79 patients were managed by LE. Twenty-three patients underwent salvage TME for an unfavorable histology after LE (11 patients) or a local recurrence/regrowth (seven patients in LE group – five patients in W&W group), with a median follow-up of 42 months. Results: Following salvage TME, no patients died within 30 days; serious adverse events occurred in four patients; 8 (34.8%) patients had a definitive stoma; 8 (34.8%) patients undergone to major surgery for unfavorable histology after LE – a complete response was confirmed. Conclusion: Notably active surveillance after rectal sparing allows prompt identifying signs of regrowth or relapse leading to a radical TME. Rectal sparing is a possible strategy for LARC patients although an active surveillance is necessary.
Multimodal treatments for rectal cancer, along with significant research on predictors to response to therapy, have led to more conservative surgical strategies. We describe our experience of the ...rectal sparing approach in rectal cancer patients with clinical complete response (cCR) after neoadjuvant treatment. We also specifically highlight our clinical and imaging criteria to select patients for the watch and wait strategy (w&w). Data came from 39 out of 670 patients treated for locally advanced rectal cancer between January 2016 until February 2020. The selection criteria were a clinical complete response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy managed with a watch and wait (w&w) strategy. A strict follow-up period was adopted in these selected patients and follow-ups were performed every three months during the first two years and every six months after that. The median follow-up time was 28 months. Six patients had a local recurrence (15.3%); all were salvageable by total mesorectal excision (TME). Five patients had a distant metastasis (12.8%). There was no local unsalvageable disease after w&w strategy. The rectal sparing approach in patients with clinical complete response after neoadjuvant treatment is the best possible treatment and is appropriate to analyze from this perspective. The watch and wait approach after neoadjuvant treatment for rectal cancer can be successfully explored after inflexible and strict patient selection.
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