Is pre‐operative radiotherapy necessary in T1‐T3 rectal cancer with TME?

OBJECTIVE: The indications for pre-operative radiotherapy in rectal cancer are still unclear with the exception of T4 tumours. The aim of this study was to assess local and overall recurrence in patients with T1-T3 rectal cancers undergoing total mesorectal excision (TME). METHODS: Prospective data was collected from 150 patients with rectal cancer treated in one surgical centre between July 1997 and July 2002. One hundred and twenty-nine primary resections were carried of which 102 were with curative intent. Seventy-nine patients with T1-T3 tumours were included in the analysis. Nine had local resections and 70 underwent TME; 19 of the 70 patients were node positive and 51 were node negative. RESULTS: At a median follow-up of 37 months (range 19-79 months) there were 3 (4.3%) isolated local recurrences. One node positive patient developed isolated local recurrence compared with 2 node negative patients. The node positive patient died from a myocardial infarction while the two node negative patients died as a consequence of local recurrence. Three (4.3%) of 70 patients developed systemic relapse all of whom were node positive. The cancer specific mortality rate over the same follow-up period was 3/19 for node positive patients and 2/51 for node negative patients. Of 9 patients who had local resections, none developed local recurrence or systemic relapse. CONCLUSIONS: With TME the rate of local recurrence in T1-T3 tumours is low. Our results do not support the use of pre-operative radiotherapy for these patients.