Kok END, Havenga K, Tanis PJ, et al. - Researchers conducted a retrospective study including 169 patients with potentially curable stage IV rectal cancer at eight tertiary referral centers in the Netherlands in order to ascertain the feasibility and effectiveness of short-course pelvic radiotherapy (5 × 5 Gy) followed by systemic therapy and local treatment of all tumor sites among these patients. Patients aged 18 years or above with rectal cancer and potentially resectable liver ± extrahepatic metastases, treated between 2010 and 2015, were eligible. In this study, a median follow-up of 49.5 months was performed and the completion rate for the entire treatment schedule was 65.7%. Patients who responded well and completed the treatment schedule exhibited the median OS of 51.5 months, compared with 15.1 months for those who did not complete the treatment. Eighty-seven percent of all patients achieved adequate symptom control of the primary tumor. Findings thereby suggest that in most patients, multimodal treatment as palliative and that the treatment results in good survival rates in those who complete the schedule.