• Jianhong Peng, Junzhong Lin, Miaozhen Qiu, Xiaojun Wu, Zhenhai Lu, Gong Chen, Liren Li, Peirong Ding, Yuanhong Gao, Zhifan Zeng, Huizhong Zhang, Desen Wan, and Zhizhong Pan.
• Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center of Cancer Medicine, Department of Colorectal Surgery.
• Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2016 Aug 1; 71 (8): 449-54.

ObjectivesPathological complete response has shown a better prognosis for patients with locally advanced rectal cancer after preoperative chemoradiotherapy. However, correlations between post-chemoradiotherapy clinical factors and pathologic complete response are not well confirmed. The aim of the current study was to identify post-chemoradiotherapy clinical factors that could serve as indicators of pathologic complete response in locally advanced rectal cancer.MethodsThis study retrospectively analyzed 544 consecutive patients with locally advanced rectal cancer treated at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center from December 2003 to June 2014. All patients received preoperative chemoradiotherapy followed by surgery. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were performed to identify post-chemoradiotherapy clinical factors that are significant indicators of pathologic complete response.ResultsIn this study, 126 of 544 patients (23.2%) achieved pathological complete response. In multivariate analyses, increased pathological complete response rate was significantly associated with the following factors: post-chemoradiotherapy clinical T stage 0-2 (odds ratio=2.098, 95% confidence interval=1.023-4.304, p=0.043), post-chemoradiotherapy clinical N stage 0 (odds ratio=2.011, 95% confidence interval=1.264-3.201, p=0.003), interval from completion of preoperative chemoradiotherapy to surgery of >7 weeks (odds ratio=1.795, 95% confidence interval=1.151-2.801, p=0.010) and post-chemoradiotherapy carcinoembryonic antigen ≤2 ng/ml (odds ratio=1.579, 95% confidence interval=1.026-2.432, p=0.038).ConclusionsPost-chemoradiotherapy clinical T stage 0-2, post-chemoradiotherapy clinical N stage 0, interval from completion of chemoradiotherapy to surgery of >7 weeks and post-chemoradiotherapy carcinoembryonic antigen ≤2 ng/ml were independent clinical indicators for pathological complete response. These findings demonstrate that post-chemoradiotherapy clinical factors could be valuable for post-operative assessment of pathological complete response.

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