To summarize the advances in the multidisciplinarytreatment of rectal cancer and to analyze the existing problems anddevelopment prospects.The full text database retrieval system ofMEDLINE and the periodicals of CHKD were searched.The words“rectal cancer,diagnosis,surgery,chemotherapy,radiotherapy,targeted therapy,analysis” were used as key words for retrievalof literature concerning the values and clinical significance ofrectal cancer multidisciplinary treatment from January,2000 toDecember,2007.Thirty papers were selected,of which 26 wereused in analysis at last.Accurate preoperative staging of rectalcancer is a key factor in the multidisciplinary and comprehensivetreatment of patients.A new therapy which is combined withradical operation can reduce the rate of local recurrence,prolongsurvival time,and particularly,promote the rate of sphincterpreservation.Radical surgery combined with adjuvant therapy isstill recognized as standard treatment modality for the patientswith rectal cancer in stage Ⅱ-Ⅲ.Total removal of resectablemetastases followed by prompt standard adjuvant therapy mayextend survival time.The introduction of new chemical drugs,drugs of targeting therapy,and a regimen of combination therapymay improve outcomes in treatment for rectal cancer patients.Atreatment standard for rectal cancer patients needs to be activelypursued.Compared with colon cancer patients,there has notbeen sufficient evidence to confirm that the total survival rate ofrectal cancer patients after multidisciplinary and comprehensivetreatments has been improved;therefore,it needs to be furtherstudied. To summarize the advances in the multidisciplinary treatment of rectal cancer and to analyze the existing problems and development prospects. The full text database retrieval system of MEDLINE and the periodicals of CHKD were searched. Words “” rectal cancer, diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapy, analysis "were used as key words for retrieval of literature concerning the values ​​and clinical significance ofrectal cancer multidisciplinary treatment from January, 2000 to December, 2007. Thirty papers were selected, of which 26 were used in analysis at last. Accurate preoperative staging of rectalcancer is a key factor in the multidisciplinary and comprehensive treatment of patients. A new therapy which is combined withradical operation can reduce the rate of local recurrence, prolongsurvival time, and particularly, promote the rate of sphincterpreservation. Radical surgery combined with adjuvant therapy isstill recognized as standard treatment modality for the patients with rectal ca ncer in stage II-III. Total removal of resectablemetastases followed by prompt standard adjuvant therapy mayextend survival time. The introduction of new chemical drugs, drugs of targeting therapy, and a regimen of combination therapy may improve outcomes in treatment for rectal cancer patients. Treatment standard for rectal cancer patients needs to be activelypursued.Compared with colon cancer patients, there has notbeen sufficient evidence to confirm that the total survival rate ofrectal cancer patients after multidisciplinary and comprehensivetreatments has been improved; therefore, it needs to be furtherstudied.