Radiation therapy for local-regional recurrences of rectal carcinoma following primary surgery

Aims and background: Several studies have emphasized the role of radiation therapy for patients with pelvic recurrences of rectal carcinoma following primary surgery. The occurrence of local-regional relapse usually means a poor prognosis and often a poor quality of life, so that different authors consider the prognosis of patients relapsing after surgery worse than those with primary inoperable tumors or those with residual disease after resection. Methods: Between January 1988 and January 1995, 43 patients with local recurrence of rectal carcinoma were treated at our Institution, Twenty-three had previously been operated by abdominoperineal resection and 20 by anterior resection, Thirteen cases also received adjuvant chemotherapy. All patients underwent irradiation with a 6-15 MeV linear accelerator; 8 (19%) received a total dose of up to 45 Gy on the pelvis and 35 (81%) higher than 45 Gy. Eighteen cases (42%) underwent 3-6 courses of chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil and folates during radiation. Results: Treatment tolerance was satisfactory, All cases underwent restaging at 45 days from completion of treatment, Sixteen cases (37%) showed a radiologic response >50%, Median overall survival after relapse was 18.8 months, There were no statistical significant differences in survival between patients treated exclusively with radiation and those treated with chemo-radiotherapy (17 vs 22 months). The results of patients who received doses higher than 45 Gy were statically better (P < 0.05) than those irradiated up to 45 Gy. A slight increase in survival was demonstrated in cases submitted to radical surgery after combined treatment (25 months). Twenty-seven cases (63%) obtained pain control after radiation therapy (median pain remission, 11 months), Conclusions: Our results seem to encourage radiation therapists, surgeons and oncologists to have a more curative attitude in the treatment of selected patients with local-regional recurrences of rectal cancers by using multi modality therapy.