Colorectal cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors of the digestive system, and rectal cancer has attracted extensive attention in clinical diagnosis and treatment. With the advancement of precision medicine, diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for rectal cancer continue to evolve. On March 5, 2026, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) released NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines?): Rectal Cancer (Version 1. 2026). This article systematically summarizes the key updates in this guideline and explores their implications for the clinical practice of rectal cancer in China, aiming to provide more precise and standardized references for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of rectal cancer.
ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy on the occurrence of low anterior resection syndrome (LARS) at 6 months after sphincter-preserving surgery for rectal cancer. MethodsData of patients who underwent sphincter-preserving surgery for rectal cancer was extracted from the West China Database from Colorectal Cancer (DACCA, updated August 2022 version) to analyse LARS at 1, 3 and 6 months postoperatively. Multivariate logistic regression analyses was employed to explore the influence factors associated with LARS at 6 months postoperatively. ResultsA total of 207 patients were included, of whom 100 received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy and 107 did not. In patients who received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy and not received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, there was no statistically significant difference in occurrence rate of LARS at 1 [35.0% (35/100) vs. 44.9% (48/107), χ2=2.092, P=0.148], 3 [33.0% (33/100) vs. 34.6% (37/107), χ2=0.058, P=0.810] and 6 [20.0% (20/100) vs. 23.4% (25/107), χ2=0.344, P=0.558] months after surgery between them. Multivariate analysis result further showed that ultra-low anterior resection was a risk factor for LARS at 6 months postoperatively compared with high anterior resection (OR=7.651, P=0.005). Stoma (OR=1.319, P=0.621), intestinal obstruction (OR=0.585, P=0.168) and postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy (OR=1.183, P=0.654) had no statistically significant effect on LARS at 6 months postoperatively. ConclusionPostoperative adjuvant chemotherapy has no statistically significant effect on the occurrence of LARS at 6 months after sphincter-preserving surgery for rectal cancer.