Table 3.
Treatment recommendations of Canadian general surgeons for a healthy 55-year-old woman with normal continence and a mid-rectal cancer that is 3 cm in diameter, encompasses 20% of the lumen, staged as T2N0 on preoperative imaging
| Treatment | Overall responses, % | Responses by practice region, % | Responses according to surgeon training, % | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|||||
| Atlantic | Central | West | Fellowship* | Other | ||
| Neoadjuvant therapy and low anterior resection† | 14 | 13 | 15 | 24 | 12 | 18 |
|
| ||||||
| Low anterior resection ± adjuvant therapy based on pathology† | 64 | 58 | 68 | 56 | 82 | 60 |
|
| ||||||
| Referral to a specialized treatment centre† | 9 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 2 | 10 |
|
| ||||||
| APR and neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapy | 7 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 7 |
|
| ||||||
| Transanal excision | 6 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
APR = abdominoperineal resection.
*
Colorectal or surgical oncology fellowship.
†
Correct response.