Intensified Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy for Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer in Elderly Patients: Toxicity, Disease Control, and Survival Outcomes

The Older Adults With Rectal Cancer-Does Age Matter?: A Single-center Experience

OBJECTIVES

Oncological treatments of older patients have many unresolved questions mainly because of the fact that these patients were not eligible to be included in most clinical trials. The aim of this study was to evaluate the treatment approach to localized rectal cancer in the older population, including complication rates and overall survival in patients treated with curative intent.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A retrospective review of patients older than 80 years old (group A) who were treated for clinical stages II to III rectal cancer. The data collection included demographics, comorbidities, treatment protocols, adverse events, time of death, and a comparison with a group of patients aged 65 to 75 years (group B).

RESULTS

A total of 88 patients were included in the analysis (group A, 35; group B, 53). The groups were balanced with regards to sex, comorbidities, pretreatment albumin, and hemoglobin levels (for all categories P>0.05). More patients in group A (25%) received preoperative treatment as in-patients (P=0.022) and were treated with radiation only (P<0.0001) as the initial treatment approach. In group A, in 82% of patients the initial chemotherapy dose was reduced to 75% or less of the calculated dose compared with 7% in group B (P<0.001). Discontinuation of chemotherapy was needed in 55% in group A and 31% in group B (P=0.07). Median overall survival was 33 months in group A and 55 months in group B (P=0.06), 5-year overall survival was 27% and 60%, respectively (P=0.004).

CONCLUSIONS

The age has a significant implication on preoperative treatment, chemotherapy dose, hospitalization rates, and survival.

Importance of patient reported and clinical outcomes for patients with locally advanced rectal cancer and their treating physicians. Do clinicians know what patients want?

INTRODUCTION

Several factors are included in decision making for treatment of patients with locally advanced rectal cancer, including a trade-off between risks and gains of both clinical and functional outcomes. However, it is largely unknown which outcomes are most important to patients and whether this differs between patients and clinicians.

METHODS

Both clinicians and patients treated for locally advanced rectal cancer were invited to fill out an online questionnaire, including a choice-based conjoint experiment. Participants were presented 14 comparisons of two hypothetical case presentations, characterized by different treatments and outcomes of care (6 attributes) and were asked to select the case with the best outcome at that moment. Hierarchical Bayes Estimation was used to calculate the relative importance (RI) of each of the six attributes.

RESULTS

In total, 94 patients and 128 clinicians completed the questionnaire. For patients, avoiding surgery with permanent stoma was most important (RI 24.4, 95%CI 21.88-26.87) and a 2-year difference in disease-free survival was least important (RI 5.6, 95%CI 4.9-6.2). Clinicians assigned highest importance to avoiding severe and daily worries about cancer recurrence (RI 30.7, 95%CI 29.1-32.4), while this was ranked 4th by patients (RI 17.9, 95%CI 16.5-19.4, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

When confronted with different outcomes within one case description, patients find the duration of disease free survival the least important. In addition, considerable differences were found between the importance assigned by patients and clinicians to clinical and functional outcomes, most notably in avoiding surgery with permanent stoma and worries about recurrence.

Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy or radiotherapy in patients aged 75 years or older with locally advanced rectal cancer

Background: To evaluate the efficacy and treatment related morbidity of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy or radiotherapy in elderly patients (aged 75 years or older) with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC).

Methods: We reviewed clinical records of elderly patients with LARC treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy or radiotherapy between January 2008 and June 2017 at our institute. A dose of 45-50Gy in 25 fractions was delivered to pelvis. The primary tumor received a dose of 55Gy concomitantly for patients receiving intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). The concurrent chemotherapy included capecitabine alone and capecitabine plus oxaliplatin (Xelox). Surgery was performed for suitable patients at least 6 weeks after neoadjuvant treatment. Overall survival (OS), disease specific survival (DSS), disease free survival (DFS) and local control (LC) were calculated with Kaplan-Meier method.

Results: A total of 85 patients were enrolled in this study, the median age was 80 years old (range: 75-90 years). After neoadjuvant treatment, surgery was performed in 56 patients (65.9%). Downstaging rate was 85.7% (48/56) with T downstaging in 35 patients (62.5%) and N downstaging in 36 patients (64.3%). Twelve patients (21.4%) obtained pathological complete response (pCR). The incidence of grade 3 or greater acute hematological, gastrointestinal and genitourinary toxicities were 10.7%, 5.2% and 1.8%, respectively. Seven patients (12.5%) experienced postoperative complications. The median follow-up duration was 35.7 months (range: 4.3-100.3 months), The 3-year and 5-year OS, DSS, DFS, LC were 68.9% and 47.2%, 75.8% and 60.4%, 68.2% and 56.1%, 83.9% and 78.3%, respectively.

Conclusion: In patients aged 75 years or older with LARC, neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy followed by surgery was well tolerated with promising survival outcomes, which should be strongly suggested if medically suitable.

Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer: Treatment Approach in Elderly Patients

Independently of age, evidence-based guidelines recommend a multidisciplinary treatment approach in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). But actually, elderly patients are grossly underrepresented in clinical trials, accounting < 10% of enrolled cases. Therefore, LARC management in elderly patients remains a crucial issue in daily practice, especially due to their frailty. Multiple clinical factors, including general health status, cognitive status, co-morbidity, disability, and life expectancy should be considered to understand the complexities of geriatric assessment and then define therapy. We use a patient-centered approach in order to tailor the optimal treatment strategy. We treat fit elderly patients as younger patients, including neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT), surgery, and adjuvant chemotherapy. Whereas, in vulnerable and frail patients, we propose standard CRT (vulnerable patients) or radiotherapy alone (frail patients).

Safety and Long-Term Effect Assessment of Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy for Elderly Patients With Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer: A CHN Single-Center Retrospective Study

INTRODUCTION

Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) followed by operation has become the standard treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). However, considering the possible toxicity and complications of radiochemotherapy, nCRT is seldom used for the elderly. The purpose of this study was to assess the safety and long-term effect of nCRT combined with TME in elderly patients with LARC.

METHOD

Four-hundred-fourteen LARC patients were divided into 2 groups: 108 patients were in the elderly group (≥ 65 years old) and 306 patients were in the non-elderly group (<65 years old). The side effects, toxicity, complications, disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) of all of the patients were assessed.

RESULTS

The data comprised 103 patients in the elderly group and 292 patients in the non-elderly group who completed nCRT sessions following operation. The treatment-completion rates of the elderly and non-elderly groups were 95.37% and 95.42%, respectively. Twenty-two patients developed radiotherapy complications (grade III) in the elderly group and 37 such cases developed in the non-elderly group. Diarrhea, skinulcer, and perianal pain were ranked as the top 3 most common complications. The incidence of infection, anastomotic leakage, and intestinal obstruction was 0.97% in the elderly group. The 5-year DFS and 5-year OS rate were 70.7% and 80.8% in the elderly group, 67.3% and 81.6% in the non-elderly group respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

nCRT are safe and effective for elderly patients, and it does not increase the risk of postoperative complications for the elderly. Hence, nCRT should not be withheld based on age alone.

Clinical outcomes of preoperative chemoradiotherapy in octogenarian with locally advanced rectal cancer

The number of elderly patients who receive surgical treatment for rectal cancer has gradually increased with aging of the population. In recent years, preoperative chemoradiotherapy, followed by surgical treatment, has been widely used for treating patients with locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma. The aim of the present study was to evaluate if preoperative chemoradiotherapy is efficacious and safe for the treatment of rectal cancer in patients older than 80 years. A total of 293 patients with rectal cancer, who received preoperative chemoradiotherapy from 2007 to 2017, were studied. Comorbidities and the short- and long-term outcomes in elderly patients (aged ≥80 years old) were investigated and compared to younger patients. The elderly group comprised of 17 patients (5.8%). Pulmonary disease was the most common comorbidity (23.5%). No significant difference between the two groups regarding the rate of completeness of chemoradiotherapy was detected (P=0.26). Curative resection was performed in 14 patients in the elderly group and 252 patients in the younger group. Among 7 patients from both groups who could not receive curative resection due to their poor general condition, 4 patients had decreased lower respiratory function due to pneumonia (3 patients) or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (1 patient). Morbidity and mortality rates were similar in elderly and younger groups (35.7% vs. 27.0%, 0% vs. 0%, respectively; P=0.54, P=1.00). No significant difference was found regarding recurrence between the two groups (P=1.00). To conclude, preoperative chemoradiotherapy in elderly patients with rectal cancer is safe and well tolerated.