Julio Garcia-Aguilar

Julio Garcia-Aguilar has been a leading force in developing organ preservation strategies for rectal cancer, investigating whether patients who achieve clinical complete response to neoadjuvant therapy can safely avoid radical resection through watch-and-wait surveillance. His research on total neoadjuvant therapy intensifying preoperative treatment with induction chemotherapy before chemoradiation has demonstrated superior pathological complete response rates and higher rates of clinical complete response that enable organ preservation attempts. He led the OPRA trial exploring organ preservation after total neoadjuvant therapy in rectal cancer, demonstrating that watch-and-wait is feasible with similar disease-free survival to resection when carefully managed. His work has transformed the landscape of rectal cancer treatment paradigms toward less morbid, organ-sparing approaches.