Functional Outcomes and Quality of Life in Patients Undergoing Surgery for Rectal Cancer

• To prospectively evaluate bowel, sexual and bladder function in patients who undergo resection for stage I-III rectal cancer. [ Time Frame: Two sets of surveys before surgery. After surgery, the participant will be asked to fill out some or all of a series of surveys at 6, 12, and 24 months. ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

• To assess the impact of bowel, bladder and sexual function on quality of life over time in patients undergoing resection for stage I-III rectal cancer and to compare QOL in patients with and without a stoma. [ Time Frame: Two sets of surveys before surgery. After surgery, the participant will be asked to fill out some or all of a series of surveys at 6, 12, and 24 months. ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  
• To evaluate the expectations, informational needs and satisfaction with the surgical consent process in patients undergoing resection for stage I-III rectal cancer. [ Time Frame: Two sets of surveys before surgery. After surgery, the participant will be asked to fill out some or all of a series of surveys at 6, 12, and 24 months. ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

Rectal cancer is the second most common cancer in North America. Therapy has rapidly improved over the last 20 years, and the surgical technique of total mesorectal excision, as well as advances in radiation and chemotherapy, have resulted in improved survival and decreased local recurrence. As a result, survivorship issues become increasingly important for patients with rectal cancer.

Patients uniformly demonstrate a strong desire to avoid a permanent stoma and show strong preferences for sphincter preserving surgery (SPS). With the introduction of the circular stapler, SPS is technically possible in a higher proportion of patients. Additionally, even tumors at the anorectal ring are considered amenable to SPS in select patients with ultra-low rectal cancers.

At present, long-term outcomes after rectal cancer surgery are poorly understood. Bowel, bladder and sexual function appear to be negatively affected by multi-modality therapy. However, function has been poorly studied, and it is difficult to translate the data into clinically meaningful information for patients. Clinically, bowel, bladder and sexual dysfunction seem to affect quality of life (QOL), although this has never been well studied. It is important to quantify the extent of impairment so that it can be used to educate patients preoperatively. However, translating these data to clinicians and patients remains challenging, and efforts to convey the data in a meaningful manner preoperatively constitute an important element in managing patient expectations. By understanding patients' baseline needs, expectations and satisfaction at the time of the preoperative consent, we can begin to develop novel preoperative strategies for educating patients about postoperative function and quality of life in a meaningful manner, so that they may better adapt after surgery. We ultimately plan to use data from this study to develop and subsequently evaluate the role of an educational tool outlining functional outcomes after rectal cancer surgery.