Clinical trial · Observational
Reporting of Tumour Deposits in Colorectal Cancer by Radiology and Pathology
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Recent research shows that tumour deposits-small spots of cancer found near the main bowel tumour-may give doctors important information about how aggressive the cancer is and how likely it is to come back. Doctors can find tumour deposits either: 1. When looking at scans before surgery, or 2. when examining the removed bowel tissue under the microscope after surgery. In the past, tumour deposits were not always recorded properly. This is because older cancer-staging systems (called TNM 5) used in the UK treated these spots differently, depending on their size, and sometimes labelled them as lymph nodes even when they were not. As a result, many tumour deposits were missed in reports. Since 2018, the UK has been using an updated staging system (called TNM 8) that gives tumour deposits their own category. This means doctors are now expected to report them separately when they are found in the tissue around the bowel. This matters because the investigators know that patients who have tumour deposits may have a higher risk of the cancer returning or spreading. Because of this, these patients might benefit from extra treatment-such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy-on top of surgery. However, if tumour deposits are not routinely recorded on scans or pathology reports, doctors may not realise a patient has them. This means that: 1. Patients may not get the most appropriate advice about their cancer, and 2. Patients may miss out on treatments that could help reduce the chance of the cancer returning. This research project aims to find out two things: 1. Are tumour deposits being routinely reported on scans and pathology reports for rectal cancer since the newer TNM 8 system was introduced? And 2. Is there a link between reporting tumour deposits and another important finding called EMVI (extramural vascular invasion), which also affects cancer behaviour and treatment decisions?
Conditions
Conditions (1)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rectal Adenocarcinoma | Rectal Adenocarcinoma | ONTOLOGY_EXACT | 0.98 |
Interventions
Interventions (1)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| No Intervention: Observational Cohort | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- label
- TNM5
- description
- Patients with rectal cancer diagnosed between 2007-2017 who were staged using TNM5
- interventionNames
- Other: No Intervention: Observational Cohort
- label
- TNM8
- description
- Patients with rectal cancer diagnosed between 2022-2024 who were staged using TNM8
- interventionNames
- Other: No Intervention: Observational Cohort
Primary outcomes (1)
- measure
- Frequency of Tumour Deposits
- timeFrame
- For MRI: MRI reporting within 8 weeks prior to surgery For pathology: Pathology reporting up to 4 weeks after surgery
- description
- 1. The frequency of Tumour Deposits on MRI in the TNM 8 cohort compared to TNM 5 cohort and 2. The frequency of Tumour Deposits on pathology in the TNM 8 cohort compared to TNM 5 cohort
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 16 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: 1. Primary adenocarcinoma of the rectum (proven by biopsy) 2. Undergone surgical resection between 01st January 2007 to 31st December 2017 inclusive for the TNM 5 cohort 3. Undergone surgical resection between 01st January 2022 to 31st December 2024 inclusive for the TNM 8 cohort 3\. Staging with MRI reports are available 4. Post-operative pathology report available 5. Patients aged 16 years and over Exclusion Criteria: 1. Synchronous metastatic tumours 2. Under the age of 16 years 3. MRI and/or pathology reports are not available
References
Publications (3)
- BACKGROUNDAmin MB, Edge SB, Greene FL, et al., editors. AJCC cancer staging manual. 8th ed. New York: Springer; 2017.
- BACKGROUNDSekhon Inderjit Singh HK, Lord A, Pawa N, Brown G. The Prognostic Impact of Imaging Detected Tumor Deposits in Rectal Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Ann Surg Oncol. 2026 Jan;33(1):199-209. doi: 10.1245/s10434-025-18371-w. Epub 2025 Sep 30. PMID 41028637
- BACKGROUNDLord AC, D'Souza N, Pucher PH, Moran BJ, Abulafi AM, Wotherspoon A, Rasheed S, Brown G. Significance of extranodal tumour deposits in colorectal cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur J Cancer. 2017 Sep;82:92-102. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2017.05.027. Epub 2017 Jun 23. PMID 28651160