Total Mesorectal Excision Versus Local Excision After Preoperative Chemoradiotherapy in Rectal Cancer With Lymph Node Metastasis: A Propensity Score-Matched Analysis.

Purpose: To determine whether local excision (LE) outcomes were comparable to total mesorectal excision (TME) outcomes in node-positive (cN+) rectal cancer patients who were good responders. Methods and materials: This retrospective study included clinical T2-3 and cN+ low rectal cancer patient who received preoperative chemoradiotherapy (PCRT) followed by TME or LE. Clinical stage T1 or T4 tumors, upper-to-middle rectal tumors (>7 cm from anal verge), and synchronous distant metastases were excluded. Lymph nodes ≥5 mm in size were defined as tumor-positive, and patients with metastatic lymph nodes >20 mm in size were excluded. Preoperative chemoradiotherapy comprised radiation (50-50.4 Gy/25-28 fractions over 5 weeks) with 2 cycles of 5-fluorouracil or oral capecitabine. Propensity scores were computed from tumor and patient variables and used for 1-to-1 matched analysis. Local recurrence-free survival, disease-free survival, and overall survival were compared between the 2 matched groups.

Results: Between January 2007 and December 2013, 563 and 55 patients underwent TME and LE, respectively. The median follow-up period was 54 months. In propensity score-matched analysis, 48 patients were included in each group. No statistical differences were observed in 3-year local recurrence-free survival (97.9% vs 97.9%, P = .994), 3-year disease-free survival (91.5% vs 91.4%, P = .968), or 3-year OS (93.7% vs 97.9%, P = .809) between the TME and LE groups.

Conclusions: In clinical N+ rectal cancer patients, oncologic outcomes of PCRT followed by LE were comparable to those of TME; this finding might be applicable only to those patients with good response in the primary tumor and small lymph node metastases.