Study assessments
tumor
TUMOR
All patients underwent baseline tumor staging using a CT scan of neck/thorax/abdomen/pelvis, a PET scan, and a cerebral MRI scan. Additionally, CT scans were conducted presurgically (week 5–6), before initiation of adjuvant treatment (week 12), every 12 wk thereafter until 3 yr from randomization, and in year 4 and 5 according to institute’s standards. Radiologic response rates were assessed according to the RECIST v 1.1 guidelines. Histopathological response assessment was conducted locally and reviewed by experienced pathologists (B.A. van de Wiel, R.V. Rawson) according to the guidelines of the INMC, and categorized as being a pathologic complete response (pCR; 0% viable tumor), near-complete response (near-pCR; >0–10% viable tumor), partial response (pPR; >10–50% viable tumor), or non-response (>50% viable tumor; 