Preliminary report of a new treatment strategy for advanced pelvic malignancy: surgical resection and radiation therapy using afterloading catheters plus an inflatable displacement prosthesis in the treatment of advanced primary and recurrent rectal cancer.

An unsolved problem in colon and rectal surgery involves the treatment of locally invasive primary and recurrent rectal cancer. An approach is described that uses intracavitary iridium-192 sources in combination with a pelvic displacement prosthesis to augment external beam radiation doses to sites of residual disease identified at surgery. This approach should permit administration of tumoricidal doses of radiation to positive surgical margins minimizing radiation toxicity to the small bowel. The radiation source and all prosthetic materials are removed at the bedside within 2 weeks of surgery, ensuring accurate radiation dosimetry, minimizing infectious complications, and sparing the patient the need for full high-dose pelvic irradiation.