Colorectal Cancer

The history of treating cancer of the anal cancer can be summarized into five steps. I: A rare and nasty disease (19th century to 1930). II: Radiotherapy: A glimmer of hope. (1930-1960) III: Radiotherapy first, for cure and quality of life of earlier stages (1960-1980). IV: Combined radiochemotherapy. Definite progress for moderately and advanced stages (1980 until now). V: Finally, the guilty responsible identified: The Human Papilloma Virus.

Surgery and radiotherapy for rectal cancer emerged in Europe at the dawn of the 20th century, marking the foundation of modern treatment strategies. Over the decades, Europe has led the way in conducting pivotal randomized trials, shaping and optimizing the multidisciplinary management of rectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) ranks as the third most frequent malignancy and the second leading-cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Metastatic CRC (mCRC) accounts for the majority of deaths. Approximately 15-30% of patients are diagnosed with metastatic disease at the outset, and 20%-50% of those initially diagnosed with localised disease will eventually develop distant spread.