Effect of Interval between Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy and Surgery on Oncological Outcome for Rectal Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Table 3

Meta-analysis of pCR rate according to time intervals.

Time intervals	Number of studies	Longer time intervals ()/shorter intervals ()	⁢Test for heterogeneity		RR	95% CI	value
				value
5 weeks	1	309/88	—	—	0.67	0.40–1.12	0.13
6 weeks	5	640/448	28%	0.23	1.03	0.76–1.42	0.83
7 weeks	5	630/779	25%	0.26	1.45	1.18–1.78	<0.01
8 weeks	6	1568/608	0%	0.92	1.49	1.15–1.92	0.002
10 weeks	1	770/543	—	—	0.83	0.65–1.06	0.13
12 weeks	2	493/1350	0%	0.41	0.81	0.60–1.08	0.15

CI, confidence interval.