Combined preoperative neoadjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy for anal and rectal cancer.

Neoadjuvant therapy combining 5-fluorouracil, mitomycin C, and moderate-dose radiotherapy was given preoperatively to 29 patients with adenocarcinoma of the rectum, 3 patients with squamous cell cancer, and 1 patient with basaloid carcinoma of the anus. Significant downstaging, and even eradication, of these lesions was realized in a high percentage of cases. Population-based data for the period of 1979 to 1984 which encompasses the time of our study indicate the survival of those treated by the neoadjuvant therapy was superior to that of patients treated by surgery alone or by surgery followed by radiotherapy. In general, patients with the poorest clinical presentation had been referred for this therapy.