Conclusions
In conclusion intensified neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy in rectal cancer patients resulted in a higher surgical complication rate compared with patients without neoadjuvant RCT in our institution as demonstrated by this retrospective matched pair analysis. Our results are in accordance with previous studies in the literature concerning a high rate of perineal wound infections after rectal exstirpation, but not with respect to the demonstrated increase of anastomotic breakdown following resection. However, most of these studies have the draw-back that surgical complications were not the main focus and therefore the key parameters were not analyzed in detail. Further studies are required to substantiate our findings and to investigate whether an increase in surgical complication rate is warranted by a significant improvement of oncological outcome.