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Watch and wait approach following neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for rectal cancer patients: A single-centre experience.

681 Background: A watch-and-wait approach for patients with clinical complete response to neoadjuvant chemoradiation could avoid the morbidity of conventional surgery for rectal cancer. Here, we report the survival outcome of patients with this strategy in our center. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the rectal cancer patients who received neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy since 2015 in our center. Preoperative regimen included long-course radiotherapy (50 Gy / 25 Fx) combined fluoropyrimidin–based chemotherapy concurrently. MRI and endoscopic evaluation were performed after preoperative treatment. Patients with complete tumor response were referred to the “watch-and-wait” approach and omitted the surgery. Four to six cycles of consolidation chemotherapy were performed. Patients were followed up clinically, endoscopically, and radiologically to assess for local recurrence or disease progression. Results: From January 2015 to March 2018, a total of 47 patients with rectal cancer in our center received conservative treatment following neoadjuvant therapy. The median age of the patients is 58 (53-66). The proportions of stages I to IV are 4.3%, 12.8%, 70.2%, 8.5%, respectively. After a median follow-up of 20 month, tumor regrowth occurred in five out of 47 (10.6%) patients. All local regrowth was diagnosed in the first two years, and four out of five (80%) of local regrowth was located in the bowel wall. All patients underwent salvage surgery. Distant metastasis was diagnosed in four of 47 patients (8.5%). two-year overall survival was 89.9%, and two-year disease-free survival was 76.5%. Conclusions: Organ preservation for locally advanced rectal cancer is feasible for selected patients who achieve a complete response to individualized neoadjuvant CRT. The survival of patients is not impaired with “watch-and-wait” strategy.