Chemoimmunotherapy in the context of total neoadjuvant therapy (TNT) in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer

Colorectal cancer is the third most common and the fourth most deadly cancer worldwide, with a high mortality rate in advanced-stage disease. Current standard therapy includes neoadjuvant chemoradiation or short-course radiation followed by total mesorectal excision (TME) and adjuvant chemotherapy. Recently, the RAPIDO and Prodigee23 phase III randomized trials examined the role of total neoadjuvant therapy (TNT) in rectal cancer and both reported a 28% pathologic complete response (pCR) and improvement in disease free survival (DFS).