Low Anterior Resection Syndrome (LARS>20) Clinical Trial
Official title:
A Prospective Pilot Study to Assess the Efficacy of Botox-A in Patients With Low Anterior Resection Syndrome (LARS>20) and Refractory Medical Treatment After Rectal Resection
After rectal resection for cancer (with or without stoma), patients may have digestive sequelae. LARS (Low Anterior Resection Syndrome) includes bowel frequency, stool fragmentation, urgency, and faecal incontinence. The goal of this study is to test intra-rectal BOTOX-A on functional outcomes and quality of life of patients with LARS refractory to medical treatment at 3 months after surgery.
Bowel dysfunction after low anterior resection (rectal excision) is referred as Low Anterior Resection Syndrome (LARS). LARS includes bowel frequency, stool fragmentation, urgency, and faecal incontinence. LARS negatively affects patients' quality of life by impacting emotional, physical, social, and role functioning. Symptoms may persist up to 15 years after surgery. The treatment options for LARS include successively conservative options, as medical drugs and biofeedback, and aggressive options, as retrograde colonic washout, sacral neuromodulation, antegrade colonic enema via a caecostomy, or a definitive colostomy. The effectiveness of conservative treatment remains uncertain and the aggressive treatments are associated with daily constraints and potential morbidity. These findings highlight the need for more efficient treatments BOTOX-A is a neurotoxin inhibiting acetylcholine release at the neuromuscular junction. BOTOX-A has displayed significant benefits in patients with urinary incontinence, demonstrating significant efficacy as compared to placebo. Intra-rectal injections of Botox-A has been trialed for the treatment of over active rectum induced fecal incontinence. Improvement of symptoms and quality of life have been demonstrated. Currently an ongoing national multicenter trial in France, IF Toxine (N° CLINICAL TRIAL: NCT02414425), has included 200 patients to assess Botox-A intra-rectal injections as a treatment option for fecal incontinence, without any safety concerns observed. The investigators anticipate that BOTOX-A injections could represent a medical option to treat digestive dysfunction (LARS) after surgery for rectal cancer, by reducing the spasm of the smooth muscle in the colon working as a neorectum. Globally 50% of patients were refractory to medical treatment (LARS score > 20) at 3 months after surgery. Of those, only 30% of them were improved by prolonged medical treatment between 3 and 6 months. The investigators anticipate that 60 % of them will be improved by association of medical treatment and BOTOX-A injection. The objective is to assess the efficacy of BOTOX-A on the proportion of patients with bowel dysfunction (LARS score > 20) at 3 months after injection. ;