Knowledge-enhanced Digital Intervention to Prevent Low Anterior Resection Syndrome

Summary

Low anterior resection syndrome refers to changes in bowel habits such as frequent defecation, urgent defecation, and fecal incontinence, which result in decreased bowel function. It occurs very commonly after surgery for colorectal cancer, especially rectal cancer, and symptoms appear severely immediately after surgery, followed by a recovery process. It is known that symptoms improve significantly after one year of surgery, but in some patients, symptoms persist, which significantly affects the quality of life and causes social problems.

There is no established treatment method for low anterior resection syndrome, and accurate evaluation and customized treatment are required according to the patient's surgical or radiotherapy treatment content and symptoms. It is also important to monitor the change in symptoms during the treatment process, and a customized step-by-step treatment strategy for such patients is required. However, such a customized step-by-step treatment strategy for such patients is very complex, and there are no clear guidelines to date, and the research design for some clinical trials has been recently reported.

The purpose of this study was to develop an app-based Patient-Reported Outcome (PRO) standardized questionnaire for patients after rectal cancer surgery to systematically collect and monitor symptom information, establish a multidisciplinary management plan tailored to patients, and provide education and treatment to improve the quality of life of rectal cancer survivors. A management program utilizing a research device (app) can reduce the incidence of Major LARS after rectal cancer surgery compared to standard treatment.

Conditions

• Rectal Neoplasm

Interventions

OTHER

Mobile app

This study will be conducted in two stages, recruiting patients scheduled for low anterior resection and those scheduled for ostomy restoration after low anterior resection. The pilot stage study will recruit 20 subjects without randomization to evaluate the feasibility of the management program app, and the second stage study will be a parallel experimental-control study, recruiting approximately 300 research participants, 150 from each group. Patients scheduled for ostomy repair after low anterior resection and low anterior resection are required to fill out a consent form the day before, and participants are randomly assigned to one of two groups in a 1:1 ratio: the experimental group and the control group. Both groups are randomly assigned to four surveys. The types are three quality of life assessment questionnaires (QOL (EORTC QLQ-C30, CR-29, EQ-5D-L)) and a questionnaire related to bowel symptoms (LARS). However, patients undergoing ostomy repair are excluded from the preoperati

OTHER

standard

Subjects classified as control group will receive educational materials. One month and three months after surgery, a questionnaire related to bowel symptoms (LARS) will be administered by phone. The researcher will call the subjects and administer it according to the period. The results of the questionnaire related to bowel symptoms (LARS) administered by phone will be confirmed by the medical staff during outpatient treatment.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Cancer Center, Korea

  lead OTHER_GOV

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

20 Years

Max Age

70 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-07-01

Primary Completion

2028-01-30

Completion

2032-01-30