LARS study

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the degree of low anterior resection syndrome manifested in patients with cancer treated in the pelvic area (rectal and anal canal) and that were treated with surgery alone (low anterior resection and subsequent ileostomy reversal), or with pre-operative radiation therapy (external beam radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy or brachytherapy), followed or not by low anterior resection and a subsequent ileostomy reversal. The purpose of the study is to also evaluate the bowel function deterioration based on age, by comparing the above population to a general cancer patient population.

This study will assess the level of low anterior resection syndrome in cancer patients treated in the pelvic area with radiation therapy. Also, we will use other cancer patients as control groups in order to correlate our results with patients that have LARS by gender and age. This study will include multiple assessments during six different time periods: before any treatment/intervention (baseline), 0-6 months, 7-12 months, 13-24 months, 25-60 months (after removal of your bag/ end of your treatments), and >60 months. This timeline was chosen because according to Canadian Cancer Statistics (2015), relative survival rates are measured beyond five years post-diagnosis 1.