Organ Preservation in Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer by Radiochemotherapy Followed by Consolidation Chemotherapy.

Summary

There is a growing body of evidence that surgery and associated morbidities can be omitted without compromising oncological safety in selected patients who have achieved a clinical complete response after radiochemotherapy. However with standard neoadjuvant treatment regimens the pathological complete response rate lies in the range between 10%-20%, the number of patients qualifying for non-operative management is even lower since the sensitivity of currently available diagnostic measures for predicting the pathological complete response hardly surpasses 50%-60%.The hereby proposed phase II trial CAO/ARO/AIO-16 aims at finding novel and innovative aspects of rectal cancer treatment. According to recently published data the radiochemotherapy regime in the present study with consolidating chemotherapy and delayed assessment of response has the potential to achieve pathological complete rates of approximately 40%. A standardized re-evaluation after consolidating chemotherapy will select patients who are candidates for organ-preservation. These patients will not undergo radical surgery and will instead be follow-up closely for tumor regrowth.

Timeline

Start

2018-06-15

Primary completion

2020-04-16

Completion

2024-04-16

Publications

• Background Gani C, Bonomo P, Zwirner K, Schroeder C, Menegakis A, Rodel C, Zips D. Organ preservation in rectal cancer - Challenges and future strategies. Clin Transl Radiat Oncol. 2017 Mar 23;3:9-15. doi: 10.1016/j.ctro.2017.02.002. eCollection 2017 Apr.
• Background Schroeder C, Gani C, Lamprecht U, von Weyhern CH, Weinmann M, Bamberg M, Berger B. Pathological complete response and sphincter-sparing surgery after neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy with regional hyperthermia for locally advanced rectal cancer compared with radiochemotherapy alone. Int J Hyperthermia. 2012;28(8):707-14. doi: 10.3109/02656736.2012.722263. Epub 2012 Sep 24.
• Background Rodel C, Graeven U, Fietkau R, Hohenberger W, Hothorn T, Arnold D, Hofheinz RD, Ghadimi M, Wolff HA, Lang-Welzenbach M, Raab HR, Wittekind C, Strobel P, Staib L, Wilhelm M, Grabenbauer GG, Hoffmanns H, Lindemann F, Schlenska-Lange A, Folprecht G, Sauer R, Liersch T; German Rectal Cancer Study Group. Oxaliplatin added to fluorouracil-based preoperative chemoradiotherapy and postoperative chemotherapy of locally advanced rectal cancer (the German CAO/ARO/AIO-04 study): final results of the multicentre, open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial. Lancet Oncol. 2015 Aug;16(8):979-89. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(15)00159-X. Epub 2015 Jul 15.
• Gani C, Fokas E, Polat B, Ott OJ, Diefenhardt M, Konigsrainer A, Boke S, Kirschniak A, Bachmann R, Wichmann D, Bitzer M, Clasen S, Grosse U, Hoffmann R, Gotz M, Hofheinz RD, Germer E, Germer CT, Fietkau R, Martus P, Zips D, Rodel C. Organ preservation after total neoadjuvant therapy for locally advanced rectal cancer (CAO/ARO/AIO-16): an open-label, multicentre, single-arm, phase 2 trial. Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2025 Jun;10(6):562-572. doi: 10.1016/S2468-1253(25)00049-4.

Drugs

Indications