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Do you offer adjuvant chemotherapy to patients with rectal cancer who were on Watch-and-Wait, had local recurrence and underwent resection?

And if so, which one? Does nodal status affect your decision? Is there any evidence for ctDNA in this space?
2 Answers
Mednet Member
Mednet MemberInvited Expert
Medical Oncology · Henry Ford Cancer Institute (HFCI)
Answered on

I would not. Watch and wait indicates the patient already received some form of chemotherapy and I do not know that additional chemo after removing a regrowth of the tumor will make much or any difference.

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Mednet Member
Mednet Member
Medical Oncology · The START Center for Cancer Care
Answered on · Updated on

It might depend on the length of time since the systemic therapy was given. If initially node negative and turns out to have nodal disease with a local recurrence, I would be inclined to check Signatera assay after resection and consider systemic therapy if positive.

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