Patients with locally advanced rectal cancer can avoid surgery and stoma while reducing the risk of recurrence, shows a clinical study from Akademiska Hospital and Uppsala University.
Traditionally, patients with this type of cancer have been treated with radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Thereafter, part of the intestine is removed, which can lead to the need for a stoma. Then, additional chemotherapy is given.
"The results show that it is possible to double the chance of avoiding the removal of part of the intestine if all radiation and chemotherapy are given first and the patient is only operated on if necessary," says Bengt Glimelius, chief physician and professor who led the study, in a press release.
In an earlier study, no tumor was found in 14 percent of the patients who underwent surgery. With the new method, the figure doubled to 28 percent.
In Sweden, approximately 2,000 people are diagnosed with rectal cancer annually, of whom one-third have a high risk of recurrence.
In total, data from 461 patients have been collected for the study. The results have been published in the journal eClinMedicine.
