Dr. Melis on Avoiding Surgery for Patients With Rectal Cancer

Marcovalerio Melis, MD, associate professor, Department of Surgery, NYU Langone Medical Center, discusses a study examining if surgery can be avoided in patients with advanced rectal cancer by using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging to predict pathologic response.

The mainstay treatment for stage II and III rectal cancer is chemoradiation followed by surgery. However, surgery can lead to several comorbidities, such as urinary or sexual dysfunction, colostomy, and/or death. Following neoadjuvant chemoradiation, some patients do experience complete pathological responses, Melis explains.

Most surgeons will decide which treatment to offer based on disease stage and the response to chemoradiation. However, a more accurate method to predict pathologic response, Melis adds, may be aided by using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging.

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