Role of circulating tumour DNA in predicting complete clinical response and local regrowth after total neoadjuvant therapy for rectal cancer: meta-analysis

Background

Non-operative management after total neoadjuvant therapy (TNT) has emerged as a potential strategy for patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) achieving clinical complete response (cCR). Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) has been proposed as a systemic biomarker to augment response assessment, but its role in predicting cCR and local regrowth remains uncertain.