Holm Department of Surgery, Karolinska Hospital, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden Rectal cancer is one of the most common malignant diseases in Sweden and is diagnosed in about 1.900 patients annually.
Local recurrence is a major problem after surgery for rectal cancer.
Adjuvant radiation has been tried to improve local control. The Stockholm Rectal Cancer Study Group have performed two randomised trials on high dose, short term, preoperative radiotherapy in operable rectal adenocarcinoma. In the first trial a two- field radiation technique to a relatively large target volume was used. The second trial used a four-field technique to the pelvis only. The trials included 1.406 patients during 1980-1993.