Clinical Trials

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy work in different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. Chemoradiotherapy (combining chemotherapy with radiation therapy) before surgery may shrink the tumor so that it can be removed. Giving chemotherapy after surgery may kill any remaining tumor cells.

PURPOSE: This randomized phase II trial is studying two different regimens of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy and comparing how well they work in treating patients who are undergoing surgical resection for locally advanced rectal cancer.

The standard treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer involves chemotherapy and radiation, known as 5FUCMT, (the chemotherapy drugs 5-fluorouracil/capecitabine and radiation therapy) prior to surgery. Although radiation therapy to the pelvis has been a standard and important part of treatment for rectal cancer and has been shown to decrease the risk of the cancer coming back in the same area in the pelvis, some patients experience undesirable side effects from the radiation and there have been important advances in chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation which may be of benefit. The purpose of this study is to compare the effects, both good ...

The purpose of this study is to determine normal values of anorectal manometry (ARM) in asymptomatic patients with an ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA), and to compare pouch evacuation dynamics between those who are asymptomatic with assumed normal pouch function and those with symptoms suggestive of a pouch evacuation disorder.