Treatment of locally advanced rectal cancer remains one of the most challenging in
colorectal surgery. It has had an evolving landscape over the past three decades.
This review describes the introduction of total neoadjuvant therapy—a term aimed to
describe an approach where both systemic chemotherapy and chemoradiation are administered
in the preoperative setting. This novel strategy has come to the fore with the strength
of well-documented results of recent trials. Its implementation has begun globally,
but long-term outcomes and data analysis to identify optimal schedules are eagerly
awaited.
Keywords
total neoadjuvant therapy - rectal cancer - total mesorectal excision
