Trial reportAnnals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology2025
Survival among patients treated with total mesorectal excision or selective watch-and-wait after total neoadjuvant therapy: a pooled analysis of the CAO/ARO/AIO-12 and OPRA randomized phase II trials.
Trial report in Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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
25 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Watch-and-Wait strategy for locally advanced rectal cancer after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy: a comprehensive review.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Pooled it
- Trial
- Total neoadjuvant therapy for rectal cancer: where are we now, where do we go?Clinical and translational radiation oncology · 2026Review
- Colorectal Cancer: Epidemiology, Risk Factors, Signaling Pathways, Clinical Features, Screening, Diagnosis, and Management.MedComm · 2026Review
- Organ Preservation and Quality of Life After Total Neoadjuvant Treatment in Rectal Cancer.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- [Neoadjuvant treatment of MMR-proficient rectal cancer : Focus on cancer of the middle and lower third segments].Chirurgie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- Paradigm Shifts in Perioperative Management of Colorectal Cancer: Personalization Based on Tumor Biology, Primary Site, and Recurrence Risk, and the Evolving Role of Organ Preservation.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Neoadjuvant PD-1 Blockade in Surgically Resectable Desmoplastic Melanoma: Cohort A of the Phase 2 SWOG S1512 Trial.Annals of surgical oncology · 2026Article
- Total neoadjuvant therapy with dose-escalated radiotherapy for organ preservation in locally advanced rectal cancer: real-world outcomes.Strahlentherapie und Onkologie : Organ der Deutschen Rontgengesellschaft ... [et al] · 2026Article
- Four-Year Survival Outcomes of Personalized Total Neoadjuvant Therapy Versus Chemotherapy During the 'Wait Period' Versus Standard Chemoradiotherapy for Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer.Journal of gastrointestinal cancer · 2026Article
- Nomogram for predicting lymph node metastasis in ypT0-2 rectal cancer after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy.International journal of colorectal disease · 2026Article
- Robotic vs. laparoscopic resection for rectal cancer with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy: perioperative outcomes and survival.BMC surgery · 2026Article
- Leveraging data-driven risk-adapted surveillance strategies after disease progression in locally advanced rectal cancer.BMC cancer · 2026Article
- Oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy after total neoadjuvant therapy for rectal cancer: Dose-response relationship and impact on quality of life.International journal of cancer · 2026Article
- [Current concepts of total neoadjuvant therapy for rectal cancer].Chirurgie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- Watch and Wait Strategy for Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer: Update From Results of Recent Clinical Trials.Cancer medicine · 2026Review
- Clinical and treatment-related predictors of complete response after total neoadjuvant therapy for rectal cancer in a large multicenter analysis.Clinical and translational radiation oncology · 2026Article
- Total Neoadjuvant Therapy with FOLFOX Followed by Short-Course Radiation in Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer-An Alternative Approach Evaluated in a Single-Center Clinical Trial.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Impact on Clinical- and Patient-Reported Outcomes Measures of an Organ Preservation-Based Therapeutic Strategy in Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer: The FOREST Project.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- The prognostic value of tumor macroscopic morphology in colorectal cancer.Translational oncology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
26 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundProspective data comparing watch-and-wait (WW) to mandatory total mesorectal excision (TME) in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) remain limited, as randomized control trials assessing these two treatment approaches are considered impractical. This pooled analysis of the CAO/ARO/AIO-12 and OPRA trials analyzes survival outcomes among LARC patients managed with either a selective WW or mandatory TME strategy following total neoadjuvant therapy (TNT). PATIENTS AND
methodsThe CAO/ARO/AIO-12 and OPRA trials were multicenter, phase II trials that randomized patients with stage II/III rectal cancer to receive either induction or consolidation chemotherapy as part of TNT. All patients in the CAO/ARO/AIO-12 trial underwent TME within 6 weeks of completing TNT. The OPRA trial allowed patients with a complete or near-complete response to enter WW while those with an incomplete response proceeded to TME. The primary endpoint of the present pooled analysis was disease-free survival (DFS). Secondary endpoints included distant recurrence-free survival (DRFS), local recurrence-free survival (LRFS) and overall survival (OS).
resultsThis pooled analysis included 628 patients (n = 304 CAO/ARO/AIO-12; n = 324 OPRA). Median follow-up was 3.6 [interquartile range (IQR) 1.13] years and 5.1 (IQR 2.2) years, respectively. Patients in the CAO/ARO/AIO-12 trial were more likely to have cT3/4 and cN-positive disease while patients in the OPRA trial had tumors closer to the anal verge. Compliance to TNT and rates of grade 3+ adverse events were similar between studies. There were no differences in DFS, DRFS, LRFS or OS based on treatment strategy or TNT treatment arm.
conclusionsThis pooled analysis demonstrated equivalent oncologic outcomes between patients treated with mandatory TME and selective WW strategies following TNT. These results strengthen available evidence indicating that WW is a safe treatment option for patients with an excellent response to neoadjuvant therapy.
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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.