Radiotherapy before surgery for rectal cancer

If someone has advanced rectal cancer, they could benefit from having radiation treatment before having surgery, say researchers.

According to the press release, Preoperative radiation may improve survival rates in advanced rectal cancer patients:

Giving comparatively higher dosages of radiation reduces the likelihood that the cancer returns to the same place in the body, the report said. Short-term radiation therapy in some patients may be more convenient because it reduces the number of trips to the hospital.

In patients with late stage rectal cancer, the report supports the pre-surgical practice of combining chemotherapy with smaller radiation dosages over several weeks.

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Tags: cancer blog, rectal cancer, radiotherapy for rectal cancer, advanced rectal cancer