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Total neoadjuvant therapy (TNT, rectal cancer)

aka total neoadjuvant therapy, total neoadjuvant treatment, TNT approach, short-course radiotherapy then chemotherapy, consolidation chemotherapy, induction TNT, consolidation TNT, RAPIDO, PRODIGE 23, OPRA

Giving all the chemotherapy and radiotherapy for rectal cancer before surgery rather than splitting it around the operation. It improves completion of chemotherapy, shrinks more tumours completely, and makes avoiding surgery possible for some patients.

Classic management was chemoradiation, surgery, then adjuvant FOLFOX, which many patients never completed. TNT (RAPIDO: short-course radiotherapy then FOLFOX/CAPOX; PRODIGE 23: FOLFIRINOX then chemoradiation) halved distant metastases and doubled pathological complete responses, and OPRA showed that with consolidation chemotherapy about half of patients can be managed by watch-and-wait without surgery. PROSPECT showed FOLFOX alone can replace radiotherapy in selected intermediate-risk tumours, and dMMR rectal cancer is now treated with dostarlimab alone. The optimal sequence and who can safely skip which component remain active questions.

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Treatment jargon

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