Challenges in Colorectal Cancer Treatment: Are New Therapies Capable of Reducing the Impact of Surgery

Colorectal cancer remains a major global health burden, with surgical resection traditionally representing the cornerstone of curative treatment. However, surgery is often associated with substantial morbidity, functional consequences, and long-term impacts on quality of life.Over the past decade, the introduction of targeted therapies, immunotherapy, and biomarker-driven treatment strategies has significantly reshaped the management of colorectal cancer. These advances have improved systemic disease control and expanded therapeutic options, raising important clinical and research questions regarding the evolving role of surgery. It remains unclear to what extent modern systemic therapies can reduce the need for extensive surgical procedures, enable organ-preserving approaches, or modify long-term oncological outcomes.This Research Topic aims to explore the changing landscape of colorectal cancer treatment, focusing on the interaction between surgical management and emerging targeted therapies. We are particularly interested in how these advances influence clinical decision-making, treatment sequencing, and patient outcomes in real-world settings.We welcome submissions that address clinical, translational, and population-level perspectives, including, but not limited to, studies evaluating:● the impact of targeted and systemic therapies on surgical indications and extent of surgical resection.● trends over time in surgical practice, following the introduction of new therapies.● oncological outcomes, including survival and recurrence, in the context of evolving treatment strategies.● correlations between changes in treatment paradigms and population-level outcomes.● neoadjuvant, conversion, and organ-preservation approaches.● multidisciplinary treatment strategies and decision-making processes.This Research Topic is particularly interested in outcomes research that bridges oncology, surgery and epidemiology, including real-world data analyses, registry-based studies, comparative effectiveness research, and population-level investigations. Submissions may also explore variations across healthcare systems, institutions, and geographic regions. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are also encouraged.By integrating evidence across disciplines, this collection aims to clarify whether novel targeted therapies can meaningfully reduce the burden of surgery and redefine treatment paradigms in colorectal cancer.Please note: Manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics, computational analysis, or predictions of public databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent clinical or patient cohort, or biological validation in vitro or in vivo, which are not based on public databases) are not suitable for publication in this journal. Topic editors: Laurentiu Simion, Dragos Serban, Gaetano Gallo, Elena Chitoran Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/80518/challenges-in-colorectal-cancer-treatment-are-new-therapies-capable-of-reducing-the-impact-of-surgery