RESUMO
The treatment of rectal cancer has been profoundly modified during last years. In less than one decade we evolved from a situation where the surgery is used to be the only standard treatment for cancer rectum to a situation where radiation therapy associated with surgery is recommended by several authors. The radiotherapy is well established as a major component in treatment cancer rectum. As it reduced the local recurrence to about 50% and improves global survival rate. Even if some points related to timing and technical modalities are still discussed, the association of radiotherapy and surgery nowadays is the standard treatment for rectal cancer. Meanwhile, some tuning still interesting trials will provide assessment of association of radiation therapy and chemotherapy by using new drugs