Figure 1.

Neoadjuvant-intensified treatment protocol. Patients received 50.4 Gy (solid arrows) or 54.0 Gy (dashed arrows) of radiation therapy (RT), 28 d (solid arrows) or 30 d [dashed arrows of fluorouracil (5-FU) and five (solid arrows) or six (dashed arrow)] weekly cycles of oxaliplatin dependent on performance status, clinical lymph node involvement, and potential risk of a non-sphincter-conserving surgical procedure. Radiation therapy was delivered with a 3-D-conformational multiple field technique at a daily dose of 1.8 Gy/fraction. All patients received a central venous access (port-a-cath) for delivering chemotherapy. Chemotherapy consisted of a 2-h oxaliplatin infusion (50 mg/m²) on the first day of each week of radiotherapy, and five daily continuous infusions of 5-FU (200 mg/m²).