Roxburgh CSD, et al. - In view of the observation that response of rectal cancer to neoadjuvant therapy increases with increasing the interval from the conclusion of neoadjuvant therapy to surgery past 8 weeks, researchers examined whether perioperative morbidity increases with the extension of time to surgery. Among 607 patients who presented with a tumor within 15 cm of the anal verge from 2009-2015, 317 patients underwent surgery at < 8 weeks, 229 patients at 8-12 weeks, and 61 patients at 12-16 weeks. Outcomes suggest postoperative complications were not independently predicted by the interval between neoadjuvant therapy and surgery.The presence of a complication was independently linked to male sex, tumor location within 5 cm of the anal verge, open operative approach, and neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy administered alone in multivariable analysis. The presence of a complication was independently linked to male sex, tumor location within 5 cm of the anal verge, open operative approach, and neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy administered alone in multivariable analysis.