A 60-year-old man undergoes diagnostic colonoscopy for a 6-month history of rectal bleeding and is found to have a 3-cm mass in the mid rectum. Biopsies reveal invasive adenocarcinoma. Staging computed tomography (CT) of the chest/abdomen/pelvis reveals no evidence of distant metastatic disease. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of pelvis reveals a T3 mid-rectal mass, with evidence of enlarged mesorectal lymph nodes. His carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level is elevated to 7.5 ng/mL. In this patient, the use of neoadjuvant chemoradiation would be expected to provide which of the following?
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