Neoadjuvant chemotherapy versus surgery plus adjuvant chemotherapy for locally advanced colon cancer: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

e15631 Background: The primary treatment for colon tumors is surgical resection, but the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in managing locally advanced cases remains a subject of ongoing debate. We conducted a thorough meta-analysis, including randomized clinical trials (RCTs), to assess the oncological safety of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in colorectal tumor patients. Methods: We systematically searched in PubMed, Scopus, Google Academic and Cochrane Library in January 2024 for studies that directly compared NAC versus surgery in patients with T3-4, N0-2, M0 colorectal cancer. We assessed overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). We calculated odds ratios (ORs) and hazard ratios (HRs) using generic inverse variance in Review Manger 5.4. Heterogeneity was assessed using I² statistics. Results: We included seven RCTs, involving 4,391 patients. Among them, 53.5% underwent NAC, with a median age of 61.41 years and an average follow-up of 62.35 months. The comprehensive analysis revealed no statistically significant differences in 3-year OS (OR: 1.20, 95% CI: 0.91 to 1.59, p = 0.20), more than 2 years DFS (OR: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.37 to 2.13, p = 0.78) and five-year DFS (OR: 1.09, 95% CI: 0.83 to 1.43, p = 0.55). Employing a time-to-effect modeling approach, there was no significant difference in OS (HR: 1.04, 95% CI: 0.63 to 1.70, p = 0.88) or DFS (HR: 0.86, 95% CI: 0.7 to 1.06, p = 0.16); (Table 1). Conclusions: Our systematic review and meta-analysis of seven RCTs showed that neoadjuvant chemotherapy compared with surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy had similar overall survival and disease-free-survival in patients with locally advanced colon cancer. Table: see text