الفهرس 
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Abstract
There is evidence that the optimal management of rectal cancer requires a multidisciplinary approach with a focus surgical margins. The selection of patients with high-risk features for preoperative chemoradiation is a critical point.
The development of more accurate preoperative imaging and staging methods will also contribute in tailoring treatments according to the patient’s characteristics. Significant evidence has been collected in the past years, which supports the positive role of radio chemotherapy in the treatment of rectal cancer. Technical advances in radiotherapy and improvement in the sequencing of radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgery will offer further advantages.
Optimal surgical techniques after preoperative treatment will enable clearance of circumferential margin and histopathology will assess the effect of neoadjuvant therapy, confirm complete surgical removal and provide quality control for both the radiologist and surgeon.
Thus, the team work of the surgeon, radiologist, pathologist, radiotherapist and medical oncologist can reduce recurrence rates and improve survival in patients with rectal cancer.
In the face of current and future schedules and the increasing number of therapy options and intensities, translational research is urgently required for the identification of patients groups, by both clinical-pathological features and molecular and genetic markers, which will gain the maximum benefit from each treatment option.