Effect of radiotherapy on long-term quality of life in recurrence-free rectal cancer survivors (LaTE study): nationwide inverse probability of treatment-weighted registry-based cohort study and survey.

Long-term quality of life was significantly lower in patients without a recurrence during the follow-up who received radiotherapy compared with patients who did not. These findings warrant a critical re-evaluation of the use of radiotherapy both in traditional neoadjuvant treatment and in modern organ-preserving treatment regimens.