About this Research Topic
Colorectal cancer is one of the most common lethal malignancies worldwide with a poor prognosis and low survival rate. A high percentage of colorectal cancer cases include stage III, characterised with locoregional disease spread and lymph node metastases. Studies have highlighted that the metastatic status of regional lymph nodes is a primary prognostic factor in colorectal and rectal cancer and has a key role in staging of the disease. This then impacts the therapeutic approaches and treatment options available and offered to patients influencing the rate of disease occurrence, quality of life and overall survival rate. Patients with stages I and II primarily undergo surgical resection, primarily laparoscopic surgery and lymphadenectomy compared to stage III patients who often have surgical treatment combined with standard adjuvant chemotherapy.
There have been advances in strategies for surgical treatment including local excision of early rectal cancer which is proposed as an alternative to radical surgery. This form of treatment is increasing due to less invasiveness and postoperative pain for patients. Other methods such as a transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM) or transanal minimally invasive surgery (TAMIS) have also been introduced as another form of minimally invasive surgery. Sentinel lymph node (SN) mapping is an evolving technique used in rectal cancer surgery to identify and explore the lymph nodes with metastatic involvement in patients and to identify lymph nodes which are not on conventional lymphatic tracts. One of the biggest challenges with SN mapping is the identification of pathological rectal lymph nodes which could determine the scope of the operation. Therefore, more research is required to understand how SN mapping can be fully utilised in rectal cancer surgery.
The goal of this Research Topic is to explore the evolving landscape of sentinel lymph node mapping in minimally invasive rectal cancer surgery. We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Systematic Reviews and Mini-Reviews.
Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.
There have been advances in strategies for surgical treatment including local excision of early rectal cancer which is proposed as an alternative to radical surgery. This form of treatment is increasing due to less invasiveness and postoperative pain for patients. Other methods such as a transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM) or transanal minimally invasive surgery (TAMIS) have also been introduced as another form of minimally invasive surgery. Sentinel lymph node (SN) mapping is an evolving technique used in rectal cancer surgery to identify and explore the lymph nodes with metastatic involvement in patients and to identify lymph nodes which are not on conventional lymphatic tracts. One of the biggest challenges with SN mapping is the identification of pathological rectal lymph nodes which could determine the scope of the operation. Therefore, more research is required to understand how SN mapping can be fully utilised in rectal cancer surgery.
The goal of this Research Topic is to explore the evolving landscape of sentinel lymph node mapping in minimally invasive rectal cancer surgery. We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Systematic Reviews and Mini-Reviews.
Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.
Keywords: rectal cancer, surgery, oncology, cancer, lymph node mapping
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