Since its introduction in the mid-1990s, sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy has revolutionized the management of breast cancer patients, allowing for a minimally invasive method to accurately stage the axilla…

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is able to visualize small tumor deposits that previously could only be identified on pathologic examination. MRI is most valuable in areas in which patient management…

In 2009, the projected incidence for colon and rectal cancers in the United States was 106,100 and 40,870, respectively, and approximately 75% of these patients were treated with curative intent….

Multimodality treatment of rectal cancer, with the combination of radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and surgery has become the preferred approach to locally advanced rectal cancer. The use of neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy…

Patients are not at risk of dying from a tumor that has been removed; they are at risk of dying from residual microscopic disease not removed at the time of…

The standard adjuvant treatment of cT3 and/or N+ rectal cancer is preoperative chemoradiation. However, there are many controversies regarding this approach. These controversies include the role of short course radiation,…

Several large case series and single-institution trials have shown that laparoscopy is feasible for rectal cancer. Pending the results of the UK CLASICC, COLOR II, Japanese JCOG 0404, and ACOSOG…

As a result of several years of trials and investigations, laparoscopic colectomy for colon cancer is now considered an acceptable and safe alternative to traditional open techniques. Four large randomized…