Impact of radiotherapy on anorectal function in patients with rectal cancer following a watch and wait programme.

CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to investigate the late dose-volume effects of radiotherapy specifically on the anorectal function in rectal cancer patients. One-third of the patients had major LARS and the most frequent reported complaints were clustering and faecal urgency. Additionally, we observed trends towards worse long-term anorectal function after higher anal sphincter complex radiotherapy dose. However, this should be evaluated on a larger scale. Future efforts to minimise the dose to the sphincters could possibly reduce the impact of radiotherapy on the anorectal function. PMID: 30825973 [PubMed - in process]
Source: Radiotherapy and Oncology : journal of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Radiother Oncol Source Type: research