CAROLINA REGIONAL CANCER CENTER ANNOUNCES PILOT PROGRAM FOR ADAPTIVE TREATMENT PLANNING TO FURTHER EXPAND THE BENEFITS OF ITS TOMOTHERAPY HI•ART TREATMENT SYSTEM

Carolina Regional Cancer Center (CRCC), an affiliate of MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, has initiated a Pilot Program to study the benefits of Adaptive Treatment Planning utilizing the TomoTherapy® Hi•Art® Treatment System, one of the most effective forms of radiation treatment available.  Adaptive tr... [read more]

CAROLINA REGIONAL CANCER CENTER WELCOMES NEWS AS AFFILIATE, MUSC HOLLINGS CANCER CENTER, RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS DESIGNATION BY NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE

Carolina Regional Cancer Center (CRCC), affiliated with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Hollings Cancer Center (HCC), announced today that HCC recently received designation by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as one of the top cancer research centers in the country. HCC is one of only 64 other can... [read more]

Colon & Rectal Cancer Side Effects

The side effects of radiation, whether preoperative or postoperative, are generally reasonably minor. Patients may experience some mild pink discoloration of their skin. There will be some loss of pubic hair, which will not be permanent. Patients may experience some mild urinary discomfort if they do not drink adequate amounts of fluids.

There will probably be some diarrhea during the course of therapy. This type of diarrhea is easily controlled by over-the-counter medications such as Imodium AD. If patients develop diarrhea during their course of therapy, they are given a diet sheet by the nurses to help them with the control of their stools.

Fatigue may also become a factor during treatment. Patients generally are not severely fatigued, but they might have mild tiredness as time goes on through the treatment. They should not give up physical activity, but if they become tired they should take a nap during the day or sleep more at night. Patients who have their anus removed at surgery and who have a colostomy, the area of the anal surgery must be treated in an attempt to prevent local recurrence of tumor in the region.

This will cause significant skin reaction at the site of the anal surgery. There will probably be significant redness and possibly loss of skin in this area during the latter portion of the radiation. Sitz baths, various creams and lotions and pain medications are prescribed by the radiation oncologist to help the patients through this time. Once the treatment is over, the area usually heals within 10 to 14 days.

Long-term complications of treatment are generally related to the bowel. As stated previously, the small bowel is one of the most sensitive areas to radiation treatment. Patients who have preoperative radiation and have never had abdominal surgery generally will not have small bowel problems in the long run. This is because the bowel is floating around in the abdomen, and the same pieces of bowel are never treated on consecutive days. Unfortunately, in patients who have had previous surgery, there are scars inside the abdomen as there are outside on the skin. These scars are called "adhesions" and will hold the small bowel in place.

On the CT scan, the small bowel can be seen, and we attempt to keep as much small bowel as possible out of the radiation beam. Despite this, there is a five to seven percent chance that the patients will have irritation of the small bowel sometime after 12 months following the radiation. This might present itself as abdominal cramping and pain, significant diarrhea or bowel obstruction. Generally, these symptoms will require hospitalization for the passage of a tube into the stomach to rest the bowel. At times, a resection (removal) of small bowel affected by radiation is needed.

Another possible, but rare long-term complication of treatment is swelling of the lower extremities. This is highly unusual with modern radiation therapy but has been reported in the past. This is caused by the surgical resection of lymph nodes and the subsequent treatment of the lymphatic vessels; this is caused by scarring in the area which prevents the fluid from getting out of the legs.