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Previous Volume 336:1016-1017 April 3, 1997 Number 14 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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The usual initial treatment for patients who present with clinically resectable rectal cancer is surgery. Adjuvant therapy for this disease has improved considerably in the past decade, and most clinical trials now focus on postoperative combination therapy. The two components of this therapy are pelvic irradiation and chemotherapy based on fluorouracil. Radiation therapy decreases the incidence of local (pelvic) recurrences; chemotherapy enhances the effects of radiation and improves survival by decreasing the risk of distant metastasis.

The publication of two randomized trials in which significant improvement in local control and survival was found with postoperative combination therapy^1,2 prompted a National . . . [Full Text of this Article]

References

Related Letters:

Radiotherapy for Rectal Cancer
Lavery I. C., Fazio V. W., Lopez-Kostner F., Vikram B., Heriot A. G., Cornes P., Glees J. P., Kumar D., Påhlman L., Glimelius B., The Swedish Rectal Cancer Trial Group
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N Engl J Med 1997; 337:346-348, Jul 31, 1997. Correspondence

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Lavery, I. C., Fazio, V. W., Lopez-Kostner, F., Vikram, B., Heriot, A. G., Cornes, P., Glees, J. P., Kumar, D., Pahlman, L., Glimelius, B., The Swedish Rectal Cancer Trial Group, (1997). Radiotherapy for Rectal Cancer. NEJM 337: 346-348 [Full Text]