Last year in the UK over 60,000 cancer patients enrolled on clinical trials aimed at improving cancer treatments and making them available to all.
A study looking at a possible new way to treat cancer of the back passage (TREC)
Please note - this trial is no longer recruiting patients. We hope to add results when they are available.
Cancer type:
Status:
Phase:
This study is looking at whether radiotherapy followed by surgery to remove the part of the back passage (rectum) affected by cancer works better than surgery to remove the whole rectum. This study is supported by Cancer Research UK.
If you have cancer in your rectum that is at an
A new way to treat these cancers is to have radiotherapy to the rectum to shrink the cancer. Then to have surgery to remove the part of the rectum affected by cancer, through the opening of the back passage (the anus). The team in this study hope that people treated this way would have fewer side effects, and a better
The first part of this study is a feasibility study, looking at how well radiotherapy shrinks the cancer, how many people can then have the smaller operation, and at peoples’ quality of life. The researchers also want to learn what is important to people when deciding what treatment to have, and try to improve how doctors talk to people about their cancer, possible treatments and
The second part of the study will directly compare the risks and benefits of each of the treatments used in TREC so they can be certain which is best. The aim of this whole study is to find out whether the new treatment is better than standard radical surgery for people with small rectal cancers.
Who can enter
You may be able to enter this study if
- You have cancer of the back passage (rectum)
- Your cancer has not grown past the muscle wall of your bowel (stage T1 or T2 bowel cancer) or you have had a small growth in your bowel removed called a villous adenoma, but test results show that it had grown into your bowel tissue by up to 3 cm
- You are at least 18 years old
You cannot enter this study if
- You have cancer that is stage T3 or above
- Your cancer has spread to your
lymph nodes or another part of your body - You would not be able to have radiotherapy for any reason
- You have already had radiotherapy to the area between your hips (your pelvis)
- You are pregnant or breastfeeding
Trial design
This is a feasibility study. It will recruit 46 people. If successful, the team will use what they learned to plan a phase 3 trial, comparing the 2 treatments in many more people.
The feasibility study is randomised. The people taking part will be put into treatment groups by a computer. Neither you nor your doctor will be able to decide which group you are in.
If you are in group 1, you will have the radical surgery. You will have a
If you are in group 2, you will have radiotherapy to shrink the cancer before having the smaller operation. You will have radiotherapy every week day for one week. Each session will take about 10 minutes. You then wait for 8 to 10 weeks to give the cancer a chance to shrink, or even disappear. You then have a small ‘keyhole’ operation through the anus to remove just the part of your back passage affected by the cancer. You may hear your surgeon call this surgery ‘transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEMS)’ or a ‘transanal endoscopic operation (TEO)’. You have this surgery under general anaesthetic, and go home the next day. The team expect you to recover fully within a week.
The team will ask you to fill out a questionnaire before you start treatment and then at 3, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60 months after your surgery. The questionnaire will ask how healthy you feel and how well your bowels work. This is called a quality of life study.
As part of the feasibility study of TREC, the team are also trying to improve how they talk to people to make sure they understand the discussions about their cancer. And, about treatment, risks and benefits of each treatment, and why studies like TREC are important. They may ask if you would let them tape or film your second doctor’s appointment, and then ask what you understood from the appointment. You do not have to agree to be recorded if you don’t want to. You can still take part in the rest of the study.
If you agree, the team would also like to take an extra blood sample before you start treatment. And, collect some of the tissue from the biopsy you had to diagnose your cancer, and from your surgery when you have it. They want to see if measuring DNA or other chemicals from the cancer could one day help doctors predict which treatment will work best for individual people. They will treat this information anonymously, so no one outside the study team will be able to link the results to you.
Hospital visits
If you are in group 1, you will probably stay in hospital for between 4 and 10 days.
If you are in group 2, you will
- Visit the hospital on 5 separate weekdays for radiotherapy, plus a day to plan your radiotherapy
- Stay in hospital overnight after your surgery
- Visit the hospital after your treatment to find out how well the treatment worked, and if you would need to also have radical surgery if it failed
Everyone in both groups will see the team regularly for at least 5 years, at
- 6 weeks after you go home from your surgery
- Every 3 months for the first year
- Every 6 months for the next 4 years after this
You will have an MRI scan 3 months after surgery and then every year.
Side effects
If you are having radical surgery (group 1), possible risks and complications include
- Leaking of stool (faeces) from the bowel where the surgeon has joined your bowel to the anus – this will need more surgery, and usually you will need to have a stoma on your tummy
- Needing to visit the toilet more often before your bowel is empty
- Having less warning before your bowels open
- Stool (faeces) leaking without warning
- Difficulty passing urine (in men)
- Not being able to get an erection
Like any major operation, radical surgery may result in serious side effects or rarely even death. The risk of death due to radical surgery is about 4 in every 100 operations (4%). Your own level of risk depends upon your age and overall physical fitness.
If you are having radiotherapy and the smaller operation (group 2), the biggest risk is that it may not be as successful in stopping the cancer coming back, and if it does come back, it may be harder to treat. As very few people have had this treatment, the team can’t be sure that the risk will be low, and similar to the standard radical treatment. Once the team have removed the cancer they will look at it under the microscope. If they don’t think the cancer has responded well to radiotherapy, they will recommend that you have radical surgery to remove the whole back passage (like the standard treatment in group 1), one or 2 months later. It is possible that the radiotherapy and smaller operation may also cause
- The need to visit the toilet more often to open your bowels
- Less warning of the need to visit the toilet
Inflammation of the bowel wall, possibly causing bleeding
We have more information about surgery for rectal cancer and radiotherapy for rectal cancer.
Recruitment start:
Recruitment end:
How to join a clinical trial
Please note: In order to join a trial you will need to discuss it with your doctor, unless otherwise specified.
Chief Investigator
Mr Simon Bach
Supported by
Cancer Research UK
NIHR Clinical Research Network: Cancer
National Cancer Research Institute Colorectal Cancer Clinical Studies Group
University of Birmingham
Other information
This is Cancer Research UK trial number CRUK/09/032.
If you have questions about the trial please contact our cancer information nurses
Freephone 0808 800 4040