Short course preoperative radiotherapy is the single most important risk factor for perineal wound complications after abdominoperineal excision of the rectum

Abstract

Patients who have an APER are over 10 times more likely to have a perineal wound complication if they have SCPRT than not. Two-thirds of these will not have healed by 1 month, half by 3 months and over a quarter will still remain unhealed at 1 year. This has important implications for patient management decisions. Large prospective studies are needed to evaluate the effects of a selective policy for radiotherapy administered to patients requiring APER.