Deviation of the upper, middle and lower thirds of the rectum during irradiation of rectum cancer

TL;DR

This study examines how different parts of the rectum move during cancer radiation therapy and how these movements relate to bony structures and the rectal wall.

Contribution

The study provides new insights into the daily positional changes of rectal thirds during irradiation and their alignment with anatomical landmarks.

Findings

Statistically significant deviations of rectal thirds were observed in multiple directions when aligned to bony structures.

Deviations were also significant when aligned to the posterior rectal wall in several directions.

Daily fluctuations in rectal volume affect alignment with both the sacrum and the posterior rectal wall.

Abstract

In patients with rectal cancer, daily fluctuations in rectal volume often lead to large deformations of the target volume that cannot be corrected by adjusting the radiation couch. The main aim of the study was to determine the deviation of all three thirds of the rectum from the reference position and to determine whether these deviations are influenced by the alignments to the bony structures (the sacrum) and the posterior rectal wall.

The conduct of the study was divided into review of the database, contouring of the anatomic structures on the cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images, data collection of the deviations and data output, with the alignment to the bony structures (the sacrum) - and the alignment to the posterior rectal wall performed separately.

Fifty preoperatively irradiated patients were included in the study. The analysis revealed statistically significant differences in terms of alignment to the bony structures for different variations of the rectal thirds in the anterior (+), posterior (+), posterior (−), left (−), right (+) and right (−) directions. With regard to the alignment to the posterior rectal wall, the analysis showed statistically significant differences for different variations of the rectal thirds in directions anterior (+), posterior (+), posterior (−), left (−), right (+), right (−) and bone (+). (The positive value (+) means that the rectum was larger and the negative value (−) means that the rectum is smaller than in the reference position of the CT simulator images.)

The position of the rectal thirds changes daily in alignment with the bony structures (the sacrum), and in alignment with the posterior rectal wall.

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