Study Status: Recruiting
Recruit Status: Recruiting
Study Type: Interventional
Official Title: Novel Sentinel Lymph Node Mapping Technique in Early Stage Rectal Cancer
Brief Summary: The purpose of this study is to develop a technique that allows physicians to identify the first lymph nodes draining from a rectal tumor (the sentinel lymph nodes). Currently, there is no technique used to find these lymph nodes in the rectum during surgery and therefore many patients with rectal cancer need to undergo a total rectal resection. Dyes, tracers, imaging and a gamma probe will be used in this study during a standard minimally invasive transanal endoscopic surgery (TES) to try to locate these lymph nodes. If surgeons are able to locate these lymph nodes they will be removed during surgery. If the technique is successfully developed as a result of this research, it could help patients in the future with early stage rectal cancer by allowing doctors to see if their cancer has spread to the lymph nodes of the rectum without having to undergo a total rectal resection. These patients would then be able to undergo a TES combined with a lymph node dissection to gain more knowledge about the stage of their disease. This knowledge would then be used to determine if and what further treatment is necessary for the patient's rectal cancer.