The Prospect of a Non-Inferiority Study of Chemotherapy for Rectal Cancer

The prospect trial in the way that it was designed and thought out is a great reflection of the presidential theme this year, which is partnering with patients. This was indeed a true partnership with patients, not just patients enrolling on the trial, but even having input very early on in the design of the study. To get to your question, it is a very small subset of probably earlier and intermediate-staged patients with rectal cancer where a sphincter-sparing operation was still possible. No evidence of significant penetration all the way through the rectal wall and none of the bulky lymph nodes that we often associate with higher risk disease.