Standard pelvic chemoradiotherapy prior to surgery can be safely omitted in select patients with locally advanced rectal cancer whose tumours respond to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, findings from a large cooperative group trial demonstrated.

A short course of perioperative chemotherapy for locally advanced esophageal/gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer led to outcomes similar to those achieved with more intensive multimodal therapy, according to a randomised trial reported here.