Electroacupuncture to Improve Bowel Function in Patients with LARS after Low Anterior Resection for Rectal Cancer: Protocol of a Multicenter Cohort Study.

Abstract

Background: Low anterior resection syndrome (LARS) comprises a series of bowel symptoms after low anterior resection for rectal cancer that seriously decrease the patients' quality of life. Current treatments for LARS include antidiarrheal medications, pelvic floor muscle exercises, biofeedback training, and transanal irrigation, all of which lack high-quality supporting evidence or have low patient acceptance. Acupuncture has been found to have a therapeutic effect on LARS; however, further research is warranted because the available clinical studies have small sample sizes and different acupuncture treatment protocols and durations of treatment. This study is designed to investigate the effectiveness and safety of electroacupuncture in clinical settings.

Methods: This is a multicenter, prospective, observational, comparative study of data obtained from a registry platform. Patients are classified into electroacupuncture and non-electroacupuncture exposure groups based on whether they receive electroacupuncture treatment or not, and the exposure dose is categorised in accordance with the timing and frequency of electroacupuncture treatment. The bowel function and quality of life will be compared between the two groups during a 6-month follow-up period. Propensity score matching and the inverse probability of weighting method will be used to reduce the risk of bias and control confounding factors.

Discussion: This prospective, observational, comparative study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of electroacupuncture at BL33, BL35, and SP6 in improving the defecation function of patients with LARS, and to explore the dose-response relationship of electroacupuncture and defecation function. The results of this study will provide support for further research.