Modified Sandwich Therapeutic Regimen for Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

XELOX: Starting from the first day of radiotherapy (set as day 0), the patient received a total of 4 courses of XELOX chemotherapy on days -42, -21, 42, and 63, including oxaliplatin 130 mg/m2, intravenous administration, d1, repeat every 3 weeks; and capecitabine 1000mg/m2, twice daily, d1-d14, repeat every 3 weeks.

Capecitabine monotherapy: During radiotherapy (Monday to Friday), capecitabine was administered at 1650 mg/m2/d, twice a day.

Radiation: The TV is expanded by 6-7mm to form PTV1, and the CTV is expanded by 6-7mm to form PTV2. The dose of PTV1 was 50Gy/25 times/35 days, and the dose of PTV2 was 45Gy/25 times/35 days, 5 times/week for a total of 5 weeks.

Study summary

In the treatment of locally advanced rectal cancer, the short-term and long-term efficacy of the traditional sandwich regimen has not reached satisfactory efficacy. For this reason, the concept of reducing the dose of postoperative chemotherapy or directly moving forward the full amount of postoperative chemotherapy was proposed, which is called total neoadjuvant therapy (TNT). However, TNT also includes the high toxicity of oxaliplatin in the whole process and the long time interval between the end of radiotherapy and the operation, which leads to fibrosis of the surrounding tissue, which increases the difficulty of surgical resection and makes it difficult to ensure good surgical specimen quality. In addition to this, there are issues that may increase the risk of potential disease progression in patients with poor treatment withdrawal. Therefore, appropriately reducing the intensity of chemotherapy and controlling the total duration of preoperative neoadjuvant therapy during radiotherapy is expected to alleviate the side effects of neoadjuvant therapy. Here, the investigators synthesized the characteristics of TNT and sandwich regimens and proposed a XELOX regimen and capecitabine alternate administration combined with preoperative intensity modulated radiation therapy.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Rate of pCR — One week after surgery
  rate of pathological complete remission

Trial sites (1)

Other trials for the same condition