Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Surg. Jun 27, 2024; 16(6): 1501-1506
Published online Jun 27, 2024. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v16.i6.1501
Non-operative management of rectal cancer: Highlighting the controversies
Sameh Hany Emile, Anjelli Wignakumar
Sameh Hany Emile, Anjelli Wignakumar, Department of Colorectal Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Weston, FL 33331, United States
Author contributions: Emile SH developed the concept and wrote the article; and Wignakumar A shared in the writing and critical revision of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that they have no competing interests or financial relations to disclose.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Sameh Hany Emile, FACS, MD, MSc, PhD, Associate Professor, Research Scientist, Surgeon, Department of Colorectal Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Florida, 2950 Cleveland Clinic Blvd, Weston, FL 33331, United States. sameh200@hotmail.com
Received: February 21, 2024
Revised: April 18, 2024
Accepted: April 23, 2024
Published online: June 27, 2024
Processing time: 129 Days and 16.5 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Patients with locally advanced rectal cancers are ideally treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy followed by surgical resection. As neoadjuvant treatments evolved, an increasing number of patients showed a complete response to neoadjuvant therapy. The complete response of rectal cancers to neoadjuvant treatment inspired the concept of non-operative management (NOM). Following extensive multidisciplinary team meeting discussion, patients can be considered for NOM. Questions arose regarding patient selection for NOM and the best surveillance program to ensure no red flags for recurrent disease. Another consideration is how patients who develop recurrence be managed.