- All patients must have localized cancer potentially curable by surgery. The tumor stage should be T any N+ M0 or T3-T4a N any M0(AJCC 7th Edition), by staging that includes a CT scan and either laparoscopy or endoscopic ultrasound. Patients with T1-2 N0M0 or patients with distant metastatic disease (i.e. M1) are ineligible. Any sites of suspected M1 disease by these criteria must be proven to be M0 prior to entrance into the neoadjuvant study.