Anastomotic leakage after anterior resection in patients with rectal cancer previously irradiated for prostate cancer

Abstract

Introduction: There are little data on the post-operative outcome of anterior resection (AR) for rectal cancer in men who had received radiotherapy for prostate cancer previously. The aim of this study was to assess the rate of anastomotic leakage (AL) after AR in these patients.

Methods: All men who underwent bowel resection because of rectal cancer between 2000 and 2016 and had been diagnosed previously with prostate cancer were identified by linking the Swedish Colorectal Cancer Registry with the National Prostate Cancer Register. The medical records of men who underwent AR and had previously received radiotherapy for prostate cancer were reviewed.

Results: In total, 13299 men had undergone a bowel resection for rectal cancer, 188 of whom had previously received radiotherapy for prostate cancer. Among those who had received radiation therapy, 59 men (31%) had an AR: 50 men (85%) received a diverting ileostomy, 42 men (71%) had an American Society of Anesthesiologists score of 1-2 and 36 men (61%) had tumour stage 1-2. AL was found in 12/59 men (20%), one of whom had a re-laparotomy. There was no 90-day mortality.

Conclusions: In the combined national population-based registries, a minority of patients with rectal cancer had an AR after previous radiotherapy for prostate cancer. These patients were healthy with early cancer stages and, in this selected group of patients, the AL rate was much lower than that reported previously.

Keywords: Anastomotic leakage; Complications; Prostate cancer; Radiation therapy; Rectal cancer.