Medical Sciences
Association Between Low Anterior Resection Syndrome and Lower Urinary Tract Symptom Severity After Restorative Rectal Cancer Surgery
By Sorinel Luncă, Ștefan Morărașu, Cristian Ene Roată and 1 others.
Abstract
Background
Low anterior resection syndrome (LARS) and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) are common after restorative rectal cancer surgery, but whether their postoperative severity is associated after accounting for relevant clinical, anatomical, and treatment-related factors remains unclear.
Methods
We conducted a retrospective, single-centre cohort study of patients treated for rectal cancer at the Regional Institute of Oncology, Iași, Romania, between 2013 and 2024. Patients were eligible if they underwent sphincter-preserving rectal resection, achieved restoration of bowel continuity, and completed the LARS score and International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) during the same postoperative telephone assessment. The primary analysis used proportional-odds ordinal logistic regression to evaluate the association between LARS and IPSS categories after adjustment for neoadjuvant radiotherapy, chemotherapy, extent of mesorectal excision, MRI-measured distance from the tumour to the anal verge, age, sex, body mass index, diabetes, and smoking. Multiple sensitivity and model-diagnostic analyses were performed to assess the robustness of the primary association.