Does Pathological Complete Response after Neoadjuvant Therapy Influence Postoperative Morbidity in Rectal Cancer after Transanal Total Mesorectal Excision?

SVOBODA, Martin, Vladimír PROCHÁZKA, Tomáš GROLICH, Tomáš PAVLÍK, Monika MAZALOVÁ and Zdeněk KALA. Does Pathological Complete Response after Neoadjuvant Therapy Influence Postoperative Morbidity in Rectal Cancer after Transanal Total Mesorectal Excision? JOURNAL OF GASTROINTESTINAL CANCER. New York: SPRINGER, 2023, vol. 54, No 2, p. 528-535. ISSN 1941-6628. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12029-022-00826-y.

Basic information

• Original name: Does Pathological Complete Response after Neoadjuvant Therapy Influence Postoperative Morbidity in Rectal Cancer after Transanal Total Mesorectal Excision?
• Authors: SVOBODA, Martin (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Vladimír PROCHÁZKA (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution), Tomáš GROLICH (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Tomáš PAVLÍK (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Monika MAZALOVÁ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution) and Zdeněk KALA (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: JOURNAL OF GASTROINTESTINAL CANCER, New York, SPRINGER, 2023, 1941-6628.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Article in a journal
• Field of Study: 30204 Oncology
• Country of publisher: United States of America
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• Impact factor: Impact factor: 1.600 in 2022
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14110/23:00129971
• Organization unit: Faculty of Medicine
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12029-022-00826-y
• UT WoS: 000791642400001
• Keywords in English: Transanal total mesorectal excision; Pathological complete response; Neoadjuvant therapy; Postoperative outcomes; Anastomotic leak
• Tags: 14110223, 14119612, rivok
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

Purpose It is still unclear if pathological complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in patients treated for rectal cancer causes worse postoperative outcomes, especially after transanal total mesorectal excision (TaTME). Worse postoperative outcomes might be an argument for an organ preserving watch and wait strategy in fragile patients and patients with comorbidities. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether patients treated for rectal cancer who had pCR to neoadjuvant therapy develop worse postoperative outcomes after TaTME than patients without complete response. Methods Comparative retrospective analysis (with nearest neighbor matching algorithm) of postoperative outcomes in two groups of patients, with pCR, n = 15 and without pCR (non-pCR), n= 57. All patients were operated on only by one surgical approach, TaTME, for middle and distal rectal tumors. All procedures were performed by one surgical team between 2014 and 2020 at the University Hospital Brno in Czech Republic. Results Overall morbidity was comparable between the groups (pCR group - 53.8% vs. non-pCR - 38.6%, p = 0.381). Anastomotic leak (AL) was observed in 33.3% of patients with pCR and in 17.5% of patients in the non-pCR group without statistical significance (p = 0.281). Conclusion In conclusion, pathological complete response after neoadjuvant therapy does not appear to affect postoperative morbidity in rectal cancer after TaTME. Therefore, in patients with complete response who are not adherent to W&W surveillance, surgical resection can be perform without increased postoperative complications.