Surgery
stoma, tumor, colorectal surgeon
TUMOR, DETACHMENT, POSTOPERATIVE COMPLICATION, PRIMARY TUMOR, RECTAL CANCER
The surgery timing from the start of radiotherapy is comparable between the two arms. After the completion of preoperative treatments, the tumor will be reevaluated with computed tomography (CT) scan and MRI within 4 weeks before the scheduled surgery. TME will be performed at 2–5 weeks from the last cycle of preoperative chemotherapy in Arm A and at 6–8 weeks (maximum resting period of 10 weeks) after the last day of radiotherapy in Arm B. Surgical resection aims at achieving complete resection of primary tumor using TME with regional lymph node dissection. The type of surgical approach (open, laparoscopic, or robotic), starting point and direction of mesocolic and mesorectal detachment, location of major vascular ligation, splenic flexure mobilization, intestinal anastomosis, stoma creation, and surgical instruments will follow each investigator’s discretion. Postoperative complications will be recorded on the case report form for up to 60 days following surgery.Surgical resection will be performed by a colorectal surgeon with sufficient knowledge and experience in rectal cancer surgery and treatment. All participating surgeons should have completed a fellowship in colorectal surgery and experience in more than 50 cases of rectal cancer surgery. The designated questionnaire presented in Supplementary Table 