Rectal resection was successfully avoided in 81% of patients selected for NOM. When combined with salvage surgery, NOM appears to achieve similar local and distant disease control compared with patients with a pCR treated by rectal resection. Longer follow-up and prospective trials are warranted to evaluate this promising treatment option.

Neither PET nor CT scans have adequate predictive value to be clinically useful in distinguishing a pCR from an incomplete response and, therefore, should not be obtained for the purpose of attempting to predict a pCR after neoadjuvant chemoradiation for rectal cancer.

No abstract

Laparoscopic ventral hernia repair can be safe during pregnancy with appropriate fetal monitoring and consideration of physiologic changes that occur during parturition. Elective procedures should be delayed until after delivery and all semi-elective surgeries until organogenesis is completed during the second trimester.