Enhancing support for patients with low anterior resection syndrome: insights and educational resources from the LARSCAT project.

Purpose: To address the educational gaps and support needs of patients with low anterior resection syndrome (LARS) following rectal cancer surgery. The LARSCAT project aimed to develop comprehensive resources to better inform patients and enhance their quality of life.

Methods: A qualitative study was conducted between November 2022 and March 2023.

Prospective evaluation of bowel dysfunction after rectal cancer surgery.

Purpose: Bowel dysfunction after rectal cancer surgery may significantly affect the quality of life. Our study aimed to estimate the incidence and characterize the low anterior resection syndrome (LARS).

Methods: Prospective evaluation of patients treated with anterior resection for rectal cancer at two hospitals followed for 12 months after ileostomy reversal.

Critical appraisal of international guidelines for the management of fecal incontinence in adults: is it possible to define what to do in different clinical scenarios?

Fecal incontinence (FI) is a complex often multifactorial functional disorder which is associated with a significant impact on patients' quality of life. There is a broad spectrum of symptoms, and degrees of severity and diverse patient backgrounds. Several treatment algorithms from different professional societies and experts are available in the literature.

Functional Constipation in Older Adults: Prevalence, Clinical Symptoms and Subtypes, Association with Frailty, and Impact on Quality of Life.

Introduction: Functional constipation (FC) is very prevalent in older adults, especially in women, but its relationship with frailty is not fully understood. The aims were to assess FC prevalence, clinical symptoms and subtypes, association with frailty, and impact on quality of life (QoL) in older people.

Methods: This epidemiological study included 384 individuals aged over 70 years recruited from the community, a hospital, and a nursing home and stratified into robust, pre-frail, and frail groups (Fried criteria).

A European snapshot of psychosocial characteristics and patients' perspectives of faecal incontinence-do they correlate with current scoring systems?

Purpose: To compare the current clinical scoring systems used to quantify the severity of symptoms of faecal incontinence (FI) to patients' subjective scoring of parameters of psychosocial well-being.

Methods: Patients referred to six European centres for investigation or treatment of symptoms of FI between June 2017 and September 2019 completed a questionnaire that captured patient demographics, incontinence symptoms using St. Mark's Incontinence score (SMIS) and ICIQ-B, psychological well-being (HADS, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), and social interaction (a three-item loneliness scale).