A Comparison of Early Side-Effects of Short-Course and Long-Course Radiotherapy in Rectal Cancer

The variety of neoadjuvant treatments concerning rectal cancer has led to acute complications. The present study aimed to evaluate and compare the acute complications of short-course (SC) and long-course (LC) radiotherapy. We studied 100 patients suffering from rectal cancer, who referred to Nemazee Hospital before their surgery, in this cross-sectional study. The patients were divided into two categories: SC (25 grays radiotherapy at 5 fractions in 5 days) and LC (chemoradiotherapy with a dose of 45-50.4 grays in 25- 28 fraction in 5-6 weeks with concurrent Capecitabine (825 mg / m2) twice daily and five days a week). Subsequently, we evaluated them for acute complications in the SC group 10-14 days after the end of the treatment and in the LC group at intervals of the treatment, the end of it and 2 weeks afterwards. In the LC group compared to the SC group, the percentage of patients with grade 1 diarrhea, grade 2 colitis and grade 1 cystitis at the end of the treatment was statistically different (p <0.001, P=0.046, P=0.036 ). In addition, the total number of the patients with grade 1 and 2 dermatitis was higher in the LC group compared with that in the SC group (P=0.046). We observed no significant differences between the two groups concerning the severe acute complications (P>0.05). This study implied that there were no significant differences regarding severe acute complication between the two groups.