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A method that uses low-energy X-rays to perform some type of treatment cancer Green signal has been given for NHS Use, which gives patients a chance to avoid surgery.
A treatment called Papillon has been recommended National Institute for Health and Care Excellence ,Good) Fit for rectal cancer patients whose tumors measure 3 cm or less, and who choose not to have surgery or are at very high risk.
Papillon is a type of brachytherapy in which an X-ray tube is inserted through the anus and rectum to deliver low doses of radiation directly to the tumor.
Without surgery, patients can bypass the need for a stoma — an opening connected to the digestive tract in the abdomen that diverts waste into a bag worn outside the body.
Nice said avoiding the procedure “significantly improves” quality of life.
People with larger tumors may also be eligible for the Papillon procedure if other treatments have reduced their tumor to 3 cm or less.
Papillon was started by Professor Sun Myint, consultant in clinical oncology at Clatterbridge Cancer Center in Merseyside.
He said: “I have been treating patients with this therapy for over 33 years, which equates to around 3,000 people.
“This decision is a major victory for patients who will now have the option of receiving the treatment of their choice.
“It is wonderful that patients will now be given the option of treatment and that many of them will have a better quality of life later on because of it.”
Professor Myint led the OPERA trial, which followed patients for five years.
It found that Papillon helped preserve organs 93 percent of the time in rectal cancer cases where tumors measured 3 cm or less.
Sharon Price was successfully treated as part of the study after being diagnosed with rectal cancer at the age of 45.
Main symptoms of bowel cancer
NHS
Bowel cancer symptoms may include:
- Changes in your stool, such as softening of stool, diarrhea or constipation that is not normal for you
- You are needing to have a bowel movement more or less often than usual
- blood in your stool, which may look red or black
- bleeding from under you
- Often feeling like you need to have a bowel movement, even if you’ve just gone to the toilet
- stomach pain
- a lump in your stomach
- Swelling
- lose weight without trying
- feeling very tired or short of breath – these are symptoms of anemia, which can be caused by bowel cancer
NHS The worker, from Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, said: “I was faced with the prospect of surgery, which would mean I would have to live with a stoma for the rest of my life.
“That was devastating – I was too young to go through that. I was offered the chance to join the clinical trial, and I decided to do it right away.”
Dr Caroline Brammer, Medical Director of The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, said: “Professor Myint is a world expert on the Papillon technique and thousands of Clatterbridge patients have benefited from this non-surgical treatment for decades.
“It is great to know that many more patients in the NHS will now have the same opportunity.
“This development will help the NHS reduce surgical waiting lists and costs and improve the quality of life for many patients with rectal cancer.”
Professor Myint, who is 77 and still works as a consultant, said: “I feel like I’ve done my bit and I can hang up my gloves now, but not until this treatment becomes part of the NHS and as standard of care around the world.”
Colorectal cancer – which includes cancers of the rectum, bowel and colon – is the fourth most common cancer in the UK, with more than 41,000 new cases diagnosed each year.