# STELLAR (rectal cancer)

Source: https://onco.cc/trials/stellar-rectal/  
OnCo record `stellar-rectal` (Trial). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

China's answer to the same question as RAPIDO: one week of radiotherapy followed by chemotherapy matched five weeks of chemoradiotherapy, with more short-term toxicity.

## Summary

STELLAR randomised 599 patients with locally advanced rectal cancer to short-course radiotherapy (25 Gy in five fractions) followed by four cycles of CAPOX and then surgery with two more cycles, or to chemoradiotherapy (50 Gy in 25 fractions with capecitabine) then surgery and six cycles of CAPOX. Three-year disease-free survival was 64.5 against 62.3 percent (hazard ratio 0.883, upper bound of the one-sided 95% CI 1.11, within the non-inferiority margin). Acute grade III to V toxicity during preoperative treatment was 26.5 against 12.6 percent. Overall survival favoured the total neoadjuvant arm (p=0.033). STELLAR and RAPIDO together made short-course radiotherapy followed by consolidation chemotherapy an accepted schedule outside northern Europe.

## Fields

- Kind: Trial
- Status: mixed
- Last checked: 2026-09-24
- Also known as: STELLAR
- Registry id: NCT02533271
- Phase: 3
- Setting: Distal or middle-third, cT3-4 or node-positive rectal cancer: short-course radiotherapy then four cycles of CAPOX (total neoadjuvant therapy) against long-course chemoradiotherapy
- Sponsor: Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences
- Enrolled: 599
- Result: Three-year disease-free survival 64.5 against 62.3 percent, non-inferior; more acute toxicity before surgery.
- Outcomes: Disease-free survival at 3 years: Short-course radiotherapy then chemotherapy 64.5 percent vs Long-course chemoradiotherapy 62.3 percent, HR 0.883
- Replication: Consistent with RAPIDO's reduction in disease-related treatment failure using the same schedule.

## Sources

- ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02533271: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT02533271
- STELLAR: short-term radiotherapy plus chemotherapy versus long-term chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced rectal cancer (Journal of Clinical Oncology 2022): https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.21.01667

## Connected records

- cancers: [Colorectal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal/), [Rectal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/rectal-cancer/)
- technologies: [Cytotoxic chemotherapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/cytotoxic-chemotherapy/), [IMRT / IGRT (modern external beam)](https://onco.cc/technologies/imrt-igrt/)
- drugs: [Capecitabine](https://onco.cc/drugs/capecitabine/), [CAPOX (capecitabine, oxaliplatin)](https://onco.cc/drugs/capox/), [Oxaliplatin](https://onco.cc/drugs/oxaliplatin/)
- terms: [Chemoradiation (chemoradiotherapy, CRT)](https://onco.cc/terms/chemoradiation/)
- trials: [CAO/ARO/AIO-94 (German Rectal Cancer Study)](https://onco.cc/trials/cao-aro-aio-94/), [OPRA](https://onco.cc/trials/opra/), [PRODIGE 23](https://onco.cc/trials/prodige-23/), [RAPIDO](https://onco.cc/trials/rapido/), [Stockholm III](https://onco.cc/trials/stockholm-iii/)

---
JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/stellar-rectal.json