Dr Michael Foote speaks to ecancer about non-operative management of mismatch repair-deficient tumours.

His study explores the use of neoadjuvant immunotherapy with an anti-PD-1 inhibitor for patients with mismatch repair-deficient tumours, particularly early-stage solid tumours like colon and rectal cancers.

Remarkably, all rectal cancer patients achieve complete tumour response, allowing many to avoid surgery and chemotherapy.

The findings emphasise the role of genomic profiling and suggest further investigation into response rate differences between upper and lower malignancies.