• Haoyan Wu, Chao Fang, Libin Huang, Chuanwen Fan, Cun Wang, Lie Yang, Yuan Li, and Zongguang Zhou.
• Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, West China Hospital and State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China; Institute of Digestive Surgery, West China Hospital and State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
• Int J Surg. 2018 Aug 1; 56: 195-202.

BackgroundThe safety and efficacy of preoperative short-course radiotherapy had been verified in rectal cancer. However, the timing of surgery after radiation had not been well defined. Thus, we performed this meta-analysis to compare the interval time of surgery after short-course radiotherapy in rectal cancer: immediate surgery (<4 weeks) vs delayed surgery (>4 weeks).MethodsWe searched the PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE, and Cochrane Library database. The primary endpoints were survival rates and pathological outcomes, and the second endpoints included sphincter preservation rate, R0 resection rate and postoperative complications. RevMan 5.3 was used to calculate pooled risk ratio (RRs) and 95% confidence interval (CIs).ResultsIn total, 5 eligible studies including 1244 participants were identified. The delayed surgery group had a markedly higher pathological complete response rate [RR = 15.71, 95% CI (2.10, 117.30), P = 0.007] and downstaging rate [RR = 2.63, 95% CI (1.77, 3.90), P < 0.00001], a higher proportion of patients with adjuvant pathologic stage 0 + I disease [RR = 1.49, 95% CI (1.23, 1.81), P < 0.0001] and a lower incidence of postoperative complications [RR = 0.81, 95% CI (0.70, 0.95), P = 0.008] than did the immediate surgery group, but the survival rate, sphincter preservation rate and R0 resection rate were similar between the two groups.ConclusionBased on better pathologic outcomes and fewer postoperative complications, we recommended short-course radiotherapy with delayed surgery for more than 4 weeks.Copyright © 2018 IJS Publishing Group Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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