Implementation and optimization of brachytherapy for rectal cancer.

Per year, one thousand patients get diagnosed with rectal cancer in Flanders. The standard treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) is preoperative (chemo)radiotherapy, followed by surgery. Increasing treatment-related toxicity due to advances in patient outcome and the fact that a substantial proportion of these patients have become long-term survivors, stress the need to reduce r adiotherapy-induced toxicity. Furthermore, a national bowel cancer screeningprogram will lead to a shift towards more early rectal cancers in which the tre atment approach for LARC consequently is not optimal.

Keywords:toxicity, response, radiotherapy, brachytherapy, organ preservation, rectal cancer

Disciplines:Morphological sciences, Oncology