Rectal Cancer: Primary Staging and Assessment After Chemoradiotherapy

Rectal cancer staging is based on 2 principles. The first is an anatomic definition of the tumor allowing for surgical planning. The second is prognostic stage grouping. A given prognostic stage carries different risks of both local and distant recurrence, a selective and tailored approach to preoperative therapy is appropriate. Increasingly, selective approaches enable an overall reduction in morbidity from overtreatment, while allowing aggressive treatment of high-risk patie