Purpose: The neoadjuvant rectal (NAR) score is a promising indicator of survival after preoperative chemoradiotherapy for rectal cancer. However, its effectiveness after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) alone has not been fully investigated.
Methods: We analyzed data retrospectively on 61 patients with rectal cancer, who received NAC followed by surgical resection between 2010 and 2015, and evaluated the impact of the NAR score on survival.
Results: The median NAR score was 14.9. Of the 61 patients, 13, 35, and 13 were classified as having NAR-low (< 8), NAR-intermediate (8-16), and NAR-high (> 16) scores, respectively. The median observation period was 49.0 months. According to the NAR score, the 3-year DFS in the NAR-low group was 100%, which was significantly better than that in the NAR-intermediate (64.8%, p = 0.041), and NAR-high (61.5%, p = 0.018) groups. When the NAR-intermediate and NAR-high groups were investigated as a single high-risk group, the 3-year DFS of the patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy was 88.7%, which was significantly better than that of the patients who did not receive adjuvant chemotherapy (53.3%, p = 0.042).
Conclusions: The NAR score may predict the DFS and could serve as a favorable indicator of adjuvant chemotherapy after NAC alone.
Keywords: NAR score; Neoadjuvant chemotherapy; Rectal cancer; TRG.