Characteristics of the selected RCTs.

CT: chemotherapy, CRT: chemoradiotherapy, NR: not reported, 3-ys DFS: 3-year disease-free survival, 5-ys DFS: 5-year disease-free survival, 5-ys RFS: 5-year recurrence-free survival, 5-ys OS: 5-year overall survival. #XP regimen: capecitabine 1000 mg/m2 twice daily on days 1 to 14; cisplatin 60 mg/m2 on day 1 every 3 weeks, totally 6 cycles. *XP/XRT/XP: Two cycles of XP, then XRT (45 Gy of radiation at 1.8 Gy per day, 5 days per week, for 5 weeks with continuous capecitabine 825 mg/m2 twice daily during radiotherapy), followed by two cycles of XP. FL regimen: 5-fu 425 mg/m2, leucovorin 20 mg/m2, for 5 days with a 4-week interval, totally 5 cycles. §FL/RT: 1 cycle of FL, then RT(45 Gy of radiation at 1.8 Gy per day, 5 days per week, for 5 weeks with 2 cycles of FL), followed by two cycles of FL. ¶FL/IMRT: 1 cycle of FL, then IMRT (45 Gy of radiation at 1.8 Gy per day, 5 days per week, for 5 weeks with 2 cycles of FL), followed by two cycles of FL.