Organ-sparing With TraceIT® for Rectal Cancer Radiotherapy

For advanced rectal tumors, the standard of care is neoadjuvant radiotherapy (RT) +/- chemotherapy followed by surgery 8-10 weeks later. Despite its proven efficacy in reducing local relapse, the neo-adjuvant treatment has been associated to non-negligible side effects, especially in terms of impaired sexual function. For females, pelvic RT is frequently associated to long-term complications such as vaginal stenosis (VS), vaginal dryness, and dyspareunia, while in men RT doses delivered to the neurovascular peri-prostatic bundles and penile bulb have been associated to the risk to develop erectile dysfunction. In prostate cancer, hydrogel spacers have been evaluated to create space between the target (prostate) and the organ (rectum) to be spared during radiotherapy treatments. Clinical studies have shown the ease of spacer application; patient tolerance and, good clinical outcomes (decrease in rectal toxicities). This pilot study wishes to investigate feasibility and efficacy of the injected hydrogel spacers TraceIT® in sparing vagina/prostate in the treatment of rectal cancer patients.