A comment on: “Survival-Effective prognostic factors of rectal cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy.”

Abstract

Dear Editor, I would like to share my opinion on the article titled "Survival-effective Prognostic Factors of Rectal Cancer Patients Receiving Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy," published in the Cerasus Medical Journal, Volume 1, Issue 2, pages 117-123, on June 14, 2024. The article was authored by Orhun Uzun et al [1]. Firstly, I want to thank the authors for their contribution to the field. The study's objective was clear: to identify survival-effective prognostic factors in this patient population. As mentioned by the researchers, they utilized a retrospective review of 102 patients who underwent surgery for rectal cancer at a single institution, ultimately including 84 patients in the analysis after applying exclusion criteria. While the study’s objective is well-defined, its design and scope present certain limitations that affect the strength and applicability of its conclusions.

Keywords

• Rectal Cancer
• Chemoradiotherapy
• Prognosis

Supporting Institution

None

Project Number

Not Applicable

Ethical Statement

None

References

1. 1. Uzun O, Polat E, Duman M, Gülmez S, et al. Survival-Effective Prognostic Factors of Rectal Cancer Patients Receiving Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy. Cerasus J Med. 2024;1(2):117-123.
2. 2. Couwenberg AM, Burbach JPM, van Grevenstein WMU,et al. Effect of Neoadjuvant Therapy and Rectal Surgery on Health-related Quality of Life in Patients With Rectal Cancer During the First 2 Years After Diagnosis. Clin Colorectal Cancer. 2018;17(3):e499-e512. doi:10.1016/j.clcc.2018.03.009
3. 3. Paschke S, Jafarov S, Staib L, et al. Are Colon and Rectal Cancer Two Different Tumor Entities? A Proposal to Abandon the Term Colorectal Cancer. Int J Mol Sci. 2018;19(9):2577. Published 2018 Aug 30. doi:10.3390/ijms19092577
4. 4. Saito N, Sugito M, Ito M, et al. Oncologic outcome of intersphincteric resection for very low rectal cancer. World J Surg. 2009;33(8):1750-1756. doi:10.1007/s00268-009-0079-2.
5. 5. Ogura A, Konishi T, Cunningham C, et al. Neoadjuvant (Chemoradiotherapy With Total Mesorectal Excision Only Is Not Sufficient to Prevent Lateral Local Recurrence in Enlarged Nodes: Results of the Multicenter Lateral Node Study of Patients With Low cT3/4 Rectal Cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2019;37(1):33-43. doi:10.1200/JCO.18.00032