Pathological complete response may underestimate distant metastasis in locally advanced rectal cancer following neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and radical surgery: Incidence, metastatic pattern, and risk factors

摘要

Aim: To evaluate the pattern of tumor relapse of pathological complete response (pCR) patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) following neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) and total mesorectal excision (TME), and to identify predictive factors of distant metastasis in pCR patients after nCRT.