Short-term outcomes of chemoradiotherapy and local excision versus total mesorectal excision for T2-T3ab N0 M0 rectal cancer

The multicenter phase 3 TAUTEM study in Spain compares preoperative chemoradiotherapy followed by transanal endoscopic microsurgery (CRT-TEM) versus total mesorectal excision (TME) for T2-T3ab N0 M0 rectal cancer. Short-term outcomes of the study showed high pathological complete response rates (44.3%) and high CRT compliance rate (98.8%) in the CRT-TEM arm. Postoperative complications and hospitalizations were significantly less frequent with CRT-TEM compared with TME. Patients are being followed for cancer outcomes and quality of life.