# Julio Garcia-Aguilar

Source: https://onco.cc/people/julio-garcia-aguilar/  
OnCo record `julio-garcia-aguilar` (Person). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Surgeon who led OPRA, showing half of rectal cancer patients can keep their rectum with total neoadjuvant therapy and watch-and-wait.

## Summary

Julio Garcia-Aguilar led the OPRA trial, which showed total neoadjuvant therapy followed by watch-and-wait for complete responders preserves the rectum in about half of patients with locally advanced rectal cancer without compromising survival, and that consolidation chemotherapy after chemoradiation is the better sequence. He chairs colorectal surgery at MSKCC and leads organ-preservation trials in the Alliance.

## Fields

- Kind: Person
- Last checked: 2026-09-10
- Tags: colorectal; surgery; organ-preservation
- Role: Chief, Colorectal Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
- Specialisms: Rectal cancer surgery; Organ preservation; Total neoadjuvant therapy

## Sources

- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Garcia-Aguilar%20J%5BAuthor%5D%20rectal%20organ%20preservation

## Connected records

- cancers: [Colorectal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal/), [Rectal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/rectal-cancer/)
- technologies: [Robotic & minimally invasive surgery](https://onco.cc/technologies/robotic-surgery/)
- institutions: [Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center](https://onco.cc/institutions/mskcc/)
- key papers: [Cercek 2022: six months of dostarlimab alone made rectal cancer disappear in every patient with mismatch-repair deficiency](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-cercek-dostarlimab-rectal-nejm-2022/), [Organ preservation in patients with rectal adenocarcinoma treated with total neoadjuvant therapy (OPRA)](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-garcia-aguilar-opra-organ-preservation-jco-2022/)
- roadmaps: [Colorectal cancer roadmap: from the adenoma-carcinoma sequence and the first screening trials to total mesorectal excision, oxaliplatin, RAS testing, immunotherapy for mismatch repair-deficient disease, ctDNA-guided treatment and organ preservation](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/colorectal-roadmap/)
- ideas: [Randomise organ preservation against surgery in mismatch repair-proficient rectal cancer, with bowel function as a co-primary endpoint](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-crc-organ-preservation-randomised-in-pmmr-rectal/)
- trials: [OPRA](https://onco.cc/trials/opra/)

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