Background: With advances in systemic therapies, the role of primary tumor resection may be of increased importance in patients with metastatic rectal cancer. The role of combining pelvic radiotherapy with surgical resection in the metastatic setting is unknown. We utilized the National Cancer Database to examine outcomes in patients with metastatic rectal adenocarcinoma with primary tumor resection with and without pelvic radiotherapy.
Materials and methods: We queried the National Cancer Database from 2004 to 2014 for patients with stage IV rectal adenocarcinoma receiving chemotherapy. We identified 4051 patients in that group that had primary tumor resection. Patients were then stratified by receipt of pelvic radiotherapy (yes = 1882; no = 2169) Univariable and multivariable analyses identified characteristics predictive of overall survival. Propensity-adjusted Cox proportional hazard ratios for survival were used to account for indication bias.
Results: The median patient age was 63 years (range, 18-90 years) with a median follow-up of 32.3 months (range, 3.02-151.29 months). There were proportionately more patients with T3/T4 disease or N1 disease in the surgery plus radiotherapy arm. The median survival was 46.3 months versus 35.3 months in favor of addition of radiotherapy (P < .001). The 2- and 5-year overall survival was 68.4% and 24.8% for surgical resection alone compared with 77.2% and 39.6% for surgery + radiotherapy. On propensity-adjusted multivariable analysis, radiotherapy was associated with a statistically significant reduction in risk of death (hazard ratio, 0.722; 95% confidence interval, 0.0665-0.784).
Conclusion: This analysis indicates that in patients with metastatic rectal adenocarcinoma receiving chemotherapy, pelvic radiotherapy in addition to primary tumor resection may be of significant benefit.
Keywords: Local therapy; Radiation therapy; Rectal cancer; Stage IV.
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