Table 2. Concurrent chemotherapy (chemoradiation – CRT).

Potential advantages	Potential disadvantages
Early treatment of micrometastases	Delivery of less than full systemic doses
May prevent repopulation during radiotherapy	Worse compliance to chemotherapy treatment
Tumour will have intact blood supply	More acute toxicity?
Potential for organ sparing if downstaged	More late toxicity?
Potential for curative resection if downstaged
Avoids surgery for resistant/progressive tumours
Response may define good/bad prognostic groups
Trials show improved local control
Trials show reduced rates of metastatic disease