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A treatment regimen of short-course radiotherapy and organ-preserving transanal endoscopic microsurgery for early rectal cancer (TREC) was associated with fewer acute and late patient-reported side-effects than total mesorectal excision, a small randomized British feasibility study found.
The randomized multicenter open-label TREC feasibility study showed high levels of compliance, low toxicity and morbidity, significant downstaging and high rates of organ preservation, and better overall quality of life (QOL), reported Simon P. Bach, FRCS, of the University of Birmingham, and colleagues.
As shown in their study online in
The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, eight of 27 patients (30%) assigned to organ preservation achieved a complete response to radiation therapy.