Data of 884 eligible patients, who underwent a resection and had no metastases at time of surgery, were analysed.
Age, period of treatment, distance and pT-stage were associated with surgical quality. CRM involvement, but not the number of examined LN, was associated with a higher risk of an LR, reduced DFS and OS. An abdomino-perineal resection (APR) was a risk factor for adverse outcome.
Surgical quality is an important predictor of outcome, also for patients treated with conventional RT or chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Preoperative CRT results in downstaging and downsizing of the tumour, but not in less CRM involvement.