[Radiotherapy and chemotherapy in the treatment of cancer of the rectum].

The North American consensus conference held in 1990 concluded that the best currently available adjuvant treatment for cancer of the rectum (T3, N1 to N3) was postoperative combination radiotherapy and chemotherapy. In 1994, the consensus conference held in Paris concluded that the benefit observed after preoperative irradiation warranted assessment of the effect of preoperative radiochemotherapy. To decide between these two consensus conclusions, it would be most logical to compare preoperative radiotherapy with postoperative radiochemotherapy in a group of patients with similar echo-endoscopic or imaging findings.