Total neoadjuvant therapy for locally advanced rectal cancer: a literature review

   The problem of locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) treatment has not lost its importance and relevance over the past decades, due to the steady increase in the incidence. For a long time, neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) before total mesorectal excision (TME) and followed systemic chemotherapy was widely accepted as the standard therapy for locally advanced rectal cancer. Although local control is more than satisfactory using this approach, the same cannot be said of distant metastases, which rate reaches 30 % or more and is mainly the cause of death of this category of patients. One of the reasons for this lack of improvement may be the rate of patients who complete the planned adjuvant chemotherapy, which is approximately 50 %. The reasons for that may be postoperative complications, long-term recovery after extensive surgical procedures, etc. Total Neoadjuvant Therapy (TNT) is an emerging approach for the treatment of LARC aimed at improving distant metastasis. This review will outline the main steps in the evolution of LARC treatment and the formation of the stages of total neoadjuvant therapy.