Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Oct 15, 2019; 11(10): 857-865
Published online Oct 15, 2019. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v11.i10.857
Retrospective review of total neoadjuvant therapy
Laila Babar, Veli Bakalov, Stephen Abel, Obaid Ashraf, Gene Grant Finley, Moses S Raj, Kristina Lundeen, Dulabh K Monga, Alexander V Kirichenko, Rodney E Wegner
Laila Babar, Veli Bakalov, Obaid Ashraf, Department of Internal Medicine, Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA 15212, United States
Stephen Abel, Alexander V Kirichenko, Rodney E Wegner, Department of Radiation Oncology, Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA 15212, United States
Gene Grant Finley, Moses S Raj, Kristina Lundeen, Dulabh K Monga, Department of Medical Oncology, Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA 15212, United States
Author contributions: Babar L and Wegner R designed the study; Babar L, Bakalov V, and Abel S performed the statistical analysis; Babar L wrote the paper; Ashraf O, Finley GG, Raj MS, Lundeen K, Monga DK, Kirichenko AV, and Wegner R contributed to the scientific review; Wegner R was the faculty mentor for this project.
Institutional review board statement: The IRB has reviewed this information and finds that this protocol does not fall under the purview of the IRB as it does not meet the definition of human subject research according to the federal code of regulations: 45 CFR 46.102(f).
Informed consent statement: As the data used was accessed via a public national database with deidentified patients, there was no need for informed consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interest to report.
Data sharing statement: Data from this manuscript will be available upon request.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Laila Babar, MD, Doctor, Resident Physician, Department of Internal Medicine, Allegheny General Hospital, 320 E North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15212, United States. laila.babar@ahn.org
Telephone: +1-412-6520419
Received: February 27, 2019
Peer-review started: February 27, 2019
First decision: April 11, 2019
Revised: May 1, 2019
Accepted: September 12, 2019
Article in press: September 12, 2019
Published online: October 15, 2019
Processing time: 231 Days and 15 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Total neoadjuvant treatment (TNT) has been gaining favor as the treatment of choice for rectal carcinoma. It has been linked to better sphincter preservation and overall improved quality of life. Our study aim was to compare TNT with traditional chemotherapy and radiation over the last 10 years and evaluate the differences in outcomes. Our study confirms a rising trend in the of use of TNT especially in patients diagnosed with locally advanced rectal cancer. Patients treated with TNT had higher burden of disease but had similar survival outcomes as those treated with traditional chemotherapy and radiation.