BACKGROUND: Up to 30% of @entity1 with locally advanced @entity5 have a complete clinical or pathologic response to neoadjuvant chemoradiation. This study analyzes complete clinical and pathologic responders among a large group of @entity5 @entity1 treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiation. METHODS: From 1987 to 2000, 141 consecutive @entity1 with biopsy-proven, locally advanced @entity5 were treated with preoperative @entity1487 -based chemotherapy and radiation. Clinical restaging after treatment consisted of proctoscopic examination and often computed tomography scan. One hundred forty @entity1 then underwent operative resection, with results tracked in a database. Standard statistical methods were used to examine the outcomes of those @entity1 with complete clinical or pathologic responses. RESULTS: No demographic differences were detected between either clinical complete and clinical partial responders or pathologic complete and pathologic partial responders. The positive predictive value of clinical restaging was 60%, and accuracy was 82%. By use of the Kaplan-Meier life table analysis, clinical complete responders had no advantage in local recurrence, disease-free survival, or overall survival rates when compared with clinical partial responders. Pathologic complete responders also had no recurrence or survival advantage when compared with pathologic partial responders. Of the 34 pathologic T0 @entity5 , 4 (13%) had lymph node @entity3 . CONCLUSIONS: Clinical assessment of complete response to neoadjuvant chemoradiation is unreliable. @entity66 persists in a proportion of @entity1 despite pathologic complete response. Observation or local excision for @entity1 thought to be complete responders should be undertaken with caution.

Complete response to neoadjuvant chemoradiation for XXXX does not influence survival.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients'] @entity66 :: ('MESH:D004194', 'Disease') :: ['Micrometastatic disease'] @entity5 :: ('MESH:D009369', 'Disease') :: ['rectal cancer', 'tumors'] @entity3 :: ('MESH:D009362', 'Disease') :: ['metastases'] @entity1487 :: ('MESH:D005472', 'Chemical') :: ['5-fluorouracil']
@entity5 :: (MESH:D009369,Disease) :: ['rectal cancer']
