Trial reportBritish journal of cancer2018
A prospective phase II study of pre-operative chemotherapy then short-course radiotherapy for high risk rectal cancer: COPERNICUS.
Trial report in British journal of cancer, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pathological Complete Response Following Different Neoadjuvant Treatment Strategies for Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Annals of surgical oncology · 2020Pooled it
- Systematic review of treatment intensification using novel agents for chemoradiotherapy in rectal cancer.The British journal of surgery · 2018Pooled it
- Radiofrequency ablation with or without capecitabine maintenance therapy for lung oligometastases from colorectal cancer.World journal of gastroenterology · 2025Article
- Article
- Prognostic Factors in Colorectal Liver Metastases: An Exhaustive Review of the Literature and Future Prospectives.Cancers · 2025Review
- Controversies and Perspectives in the Current Management of Patients with Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer-A Systematic Review.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Prognostic Value of Pretreatment Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) in Rectal Cancer Treated with Preoperative Short-Course Radiotherapy with Delayed Surgery or Long-Course Radiotherapy.OncoTargets and therapy · 2025Article
- Recent advances in rectal cancer treatment - are we on the right track?Upsala journal of medical sciences · 2024Review
- Neoadjuvant Therapy for Rectal Cancer.Surgical oncology clinics of North America · 2022Review
- The Evolving Neoadjuvant Treatment Paradigm for Patients with Locoregional mismatch Repair Proficient Rectal Cancer.Current treatment options in oncology · 2022Review
- Cost-effectiveness of Total Neoadjuvant Therapy With Short-Course Radiotherapy for Resectable Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer.JAMA network open · 2022Article
- Effects of neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus chemoradiotherapy on lymph nodes in rectal adenocarcinoma.Virchows Archiv : an international journal of pathology · 2021Article
- Predictive factors for early distant metastasis after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced rectal cancer.World journal of gastrointestinal oncology · 2021Article
- Differential and longitudinal immune gene patterns associated with reprogrammed microenvironment and viral mimicry in response to neoadjuvant radiotherapy in rectal cancer.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2021Article
- Altered fractionation short-course radiotherapy for stage II-III rectal cancer: a retrospective study.Radiation oncology (London, England) · 2020Article
- Neoadjuvant treatment (FOLFOX4 plus hypofractionated tomotherapy) for patients with locally advanced rectal cancer: a multicenter phase II trial.Therapeutic advances in medical oncology · 2020Article
- Total neoadjuvant therapy in locally advanced rectal cancer: Role of systemic chemotherapy.Annals of gastroenterological surgery · 2019Review
- Organ Preservation Strategies After Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy for Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer.Annals of coloproctology · 2019Review
- Response evaluation after neoadjuvant treatment for rectal cancer using modern MR imaging: a pictorial review.Insights into imaging · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors at 9 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundNeoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) allows earlier treatment of rectal cancer micro-metastases but is not standard of care. There are currently no biomarkers predicting long-term progression-free survival (PFS) benefit from NAC. PATIENTS AND
methodsIn this single arm phase II trial, patients with non-metastatic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-defined operable rectal adenocarcinoma at high risk of post-operative metastatic recurrence, received 8 weeks of oxaliplatin/fluorouracil NAC then short-course preoperative radiotherapy (SCPRT) before immediate surgery. Sixteen weeks of post-operative adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) was planned. A pelvic MRI was performed at week 9 immediately post-NAC, before SCPRT. The primary end point was feasibility assessed by completion of protocol treatment up to and including surgery. Secondary endpoints included compliance, toxicity, downstaging efficacy, and PFS.
resultsIn total 60 patients were recruited May 2012-June 2014. In total 57 patients completed protocol treatment, meeting the primary endpoint. Compliance with NAC was much better than AC: Comparing NAC vs. AC, the median percentage dose intensity for fluoropyrimidine was 100% vs. 63% and for oxaliplatin 100% vs. 45%. Treatment-related toxicity was acceptable with no treatment-related deaths. Post-NAC MRI showed 44 tumours (73%) were T-downstaged and 22 (37%) had excellent MRI tumour regression grade (mrTRG 1-2). Median follow-up was 27 months with 2-year PFS of 86.2% (10 events). On exploratory analysis, post-NAC mrTRG predicted PFS with no event among those with excellent regression.
conclusionThe regimen was well tolerated with effective downstaging and encouraging PFS. mrTRG response to NAC may be a new prognostic factor for long-term PFS, but needs validation in larger studies.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.