Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound for rectal cancer staging.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound for rectal cancer staging.
IRAS ID
212622
Contact name
Susan Moug
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Colorectal cancer is the 4th commonest cancer in the UK with over 40, 000 people diagnosed every year. In rectal cancer, improved pre-operative staging (CT and MRI) determines first line treatment (chemoradiotherapy or surgery) followed by adjuvant therapy have resulted in improved survival. However despite these improvements,
current staging has its limitations. MRI cannot clearly diagnose cancerous lymph nodes and nodes and the picture becomes even more confusing after neo-adjuvant therapy has been completed as again, visible nodes may now be inflammatory as a result of the treatment, rather than the cancer.A reasonable proportion of rectal cancers are staged as an early cancer e.g. T1/T2 with no radiological evidence of lymph node involvement. However, with current staging limitations a surgeon cannot be sure that the patient has no involvement of the lymph nodes so to be safe, these patients will be encouraged to undergo the same surgery as patients with more advanced cancers. This can result in some patients undergoing major surgery with significant morbidity (e.g. stoma formation; pelvic nerve damage leading to bladder or erectile dysfunction; faecal incontinence) when their early tumour could have been removed by local and less invasive techniques. Therefore, a technique that could clearly stage lymph node involvement in rectal cancer would result in significant improvements for patients with early cancers.
Contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is currently clinically used in heart and liver imaging, but has never been used in patients with rectal cancer. This study will recruit patients undergoing surgery for their rectal cancer and perform a CEUS of the rectal cancer whilst they are under anaesthetic. This will involve inserting a rectal probe and injecting dye, both of which are clinically used already. It is hoped that results from this novel study will develop a CEUS technique that improves staging in these patients.REC name
West of Scotland REC 3
REC reference
18/WS/0063
Date of REC Opinion
29 Mar 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion