{"id":604083,"date":"2026-08-25T11:34:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T11:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/604083\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T11:34:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T11:34:15","slug":"rectal-spacers-safe-in-ct3-prostate-cancer-emj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/604083\/","title":{"rendered":"Rectal Spacers Safe in cT3 Prostate Cancer \u2013 EMJ"},"content":{"rendered":"

RECTAL SPACERS achieved comparable prostate to rectum separation and\u00a0demonstrated\u00a0an acceptable short-term safety profile in patients with cT3 prostate cancer undergoing external beam radiotherapy, according to findings from a prospective cohort study.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Biodegradable rectal spacers are widely used in localised\u00a0prostate cancer<\/a>\u00a0to increase the distance between the prostate and rectum, thereby reducing unintended rectal irradiation.\u00a0However, evidence in locally advanced disease has\u00a0remained\u00a0limited.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rectal Spacers\u00a0Shows Promise in cT3 Disease\u00a0<\/p>\n

To address this gap,\u00a0researchers\u00a0conducted a prospective single centre study between 2022 and 2024 involving 181 men with biopsy confirmed cT1 to cT3 prostate cancer scheduled for external beam\u00a0radiotherapy<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

All participants underwent insertion of either a polyethylene glycol hydrogel spacer or a hyaluronic acid spacer before treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among the cohort, 62 patients had cT3 disease and 119 had cT1c or cT2 disease. Post-insertion rectal spacing was\u00a0largely comparable\u00a0between groups.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the mid-gland, spacing measured 1.00 cm\u00b10.36 in the cT3 group versus 1.05 cm\u00b10.37 in the cT1c\/cT2.\u00a0At the apex, measurements were 0.52 cm\u00b10.27 and 0.59 cm\u00b10.30, respectively.\u00a0A significantly greater separation at the base was\u00a0observed\u00a0in the cT3 cohort\u00a0(0.94 cm\u00b10.32 versus 0.82 cm\u00b10.30).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Safety Outcomes Remain Encouraging\u00a0<\/p>\n

Researchers\u00a0reported no significant differences in gastrointestinal toxicity between disease stages.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Acute grade 1 or 2 gastrointestinal toxicity occurred in 12.9% of patients with cT3 disease compared with 5.0% of patients with cT1c\/cT2 disease.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Late toxicity rates were 4.3% and 1.1%, respectively.\u00a0Importantly, no grade 3 or higher toxicity was recorded in either group.\u00a0Procedure related complications were similarly low.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Temporary urinary retention requiring catheterisation occurred in 17.7% of patients with cT3 disease and 13.4% of those with cT1c\/cT2 disease.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No patients experienced refractory urinary retention, infective complications, or rectal mucosal injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Clinical Implications for Radiotherapy Practice\u00a0<\/p>\n

Notably, patients with cT3 disease were more likely to receive higher dose radiotherapy regimens, yet toxicity outcomes remained comparable.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Researchers suggested this may\u00a0indicate\u00a0that rectal spacers\u00a0retain\u00a0their protective effect across varying treatment intensities and disease stages.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Early oncological outcomes were also reassuring.\u00a0Freedom from biochemical failure was 98.1% in the cT3 group and 100% in the cT1c\/cT2 group during a median follow-up of 8 months.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0researchers\u00a0emphasised that longer follow up will be\u00a0required\u00a0to assess long term cancer control and late toxicity outcomes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Overall, the findings suggest that rectal spacers could play an increasingly\u00a0important role\u00a0in supporting safer, more precise external beam radiotherapy for patients with locally advanced prostate cancer as longer-term evidence continues to\u00a0emerge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reference\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wang K et al. Safety and efficacy of rectal spacers in locally advanced prostate cancer. Sci Rep.\u00a02026;DOI:10.1038\/s41598-026-66499-w\u00a0<\/p>\n

Featured\u00a0image:\u00a0Mark Kostich\u00a0on\u00a0Adobe Stock<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RECTAL SPACERS achieved comparable prostate to rectum separation and\u00a0demonstrated\u00a0an acceptable short-term safety profile in patients with cT3 prostate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[103,61,60],"class_list":["post-604083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}