Management of locally advanced rectal cancers

Abstract

Colorectal cancers are among the most commonly diagnosed malignancies worldwide. Early stage disease has an excellent survival but later stage is disease is almost uniformly fatal and has a high rate of treatment related morbidity. Rectal cancers are known to have similar disease biology to colon cancers based on genetic sequencing and thus are often grouped together and managed similarly. However, because of their location, they do require a unique set of diagnostic and management tools. In this chapter, we discuss the diagnosis and treatment of locally advanced rectal cancers through a review of published literature and ongoing clinical trials.