High-Tech Help for Rectal Cancer

Rectal cancer is uniquely challenging.

• Affects just the last 6-8 inches of the digestive system.
• Location and presence of vital organs makes surgery uniquely challenging.
• Advancements in treatment give hope to patients whose cancer would once have been untreatable.

5-year survival rates have increased 40% thanks to innovative treatments.

Relative survival by year of diagnosis (source: Seer.Cancer.gov/csr/1975_2014).

Innovations continue to improve treatment.

Intraoperative Radiation Therapy

• Delivers a single, high dose of radiation directly to the tumor site during surgery.
• Careful placement of radiation shields protects nearby organs from radiation damage.
• Used primarily for tumors that are large or have recurred after surgery.
• Reduces risk of cancer recurrence.

Robotic Surgery

• Surgery performed while surgeon sits at a console and uses controls to guide high tech surgical tools.
• Allows surgeons to work in small spaces with three-dimensional visualization, and with more precision, flexibility and control than with conventional techniques.
• Minimally invasive, fewer complications, quicker recovery, fewer urological complications and may reduce nerve dysfunction

Proton Beam Therapy

• Uses a highly targeted precision beam to deliver radiation to a tumor and reduce radiation to surrounding healthy tissue and organs.
• May reduce side effects for patients.
• Especially useful for patients who have previously received radiation to the pelvis.

Improving quality of life post-surgery.

Coloanal anastomosis

• Procedure that connects portions of the intestine after the removal of the rectum.
• Helps avoid a permanent colostomy.
• Offers patients a more normal life after surgery.

Ileoanal anastomosis

• A cutting-edge, minimally invasive procedure.
• Replaces the rectum in patients with hereditary rectal cancers and rectal cancer in association with inflammatory bowel disease.
• Intestinal continuity is maintained leading to minimal changes to lifestyle and quality of life.

Sources: MayoClinic.org; Seer.Cancer.gov/csr/1975_2014; Ncbi.Nlm.Nih.gov; RoboticOncology.com.