Impact of the interval between short-course radiotherapy and surgery on outcomes of rectal cancer patients

Present study found that elderly patients aged 75 years and older operated 4-7 days after the last fraction of radiotherapy had a higher chance of dying due to non-cancer-related causes during the TME-trial as compared to patients with an interval of 0-3 days. In the verification set similar differences could not be confirmed, which could be due to awareness of the clinicians who avoided delayed surgery after radiotherapy since the results have been presented during congresses. A longer than recommended interval between radiotherapy and surgery should be avoided. Besides, the verification set suggests that radiotherapy duration of 7 days is acceptable.