Treatment groups
Tumors, tumor, Cancer
TUMORS, TUMOR, CANCER
All patients underwent a standard preoperative staging workup that included a pretreatment tumor biopsy, a contrast-enhanced CT scan of the chest and abdomen, contrast-enhanced brain magnetic resonance imaging, and a 99mTc-labeled methylene diphosphonate (99mTc-MDP) whole-body bone scan. Tumors were staged according to the 8th edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer criteria. The surgeon evaluated all patients to determine whether they were appropriate for surgical intervention or should continue neoadjuvant therapy after two to four cycles of neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy. All pathologic information, including MPR or non-MPR (N-MPR) status, was reconfirmed by a senior pathologist. Patients who achieved MPR or PCR were assigned to the MPR group, and all others were assigned to the N-MPR group.