Convenors: Miss Amy Lord, Mr Nick Battersby,
Mr Brendan Moran & Mr Francesco Di Fabio
Our previous Low Anterior Resection Syndrome, (LARS) Workshop held in 2025 helped to empower clinicians to improve their management of patients with LARS through gaining more understanding of its aetiology, investigation and optimal management. The 2026 Workshop will expand the scope to include other late effects, and colon cancer patients.
Patients who have been treated for bowel cancer may experience a number of late effects. One issue is LARS, which refers to a constellation of symptoms patients may experience after surgery for rectal cancer. These symptoms can also occur to a lesser extent after colon cancer surgery. The symptoms can range from increased frequency and urgency to debilitating incontinence in severe cases. Up to 80% of patients with low rectal cancer are affected by LARS, and although some patients’ bowel function will improve over time, others will have lifelong problems leading to a poor quality of life.
Management of late effects is often suboptimal for multiple reasons, including inadequate counselling of patients pre-operatively, failure to discuss and recognise LARS symptoms, sexual dysfunction, and other life-altering consequences, and uncertainty about the best management options.
The Workshop is aimed at surgeons, specialist nurses, oncologists, gastroenterologists, and other clinicians who look after patients with bowel cancer.
We have applied for 5 CPD points from the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain & Ireland.
Course Cost: £75.00 Sign up here!
We have some sponsored places, so please contact us if you feel you would benefit from attending but don’t have funding available from your Trust.
If you are interested in applying for a charity sponsored place, please email admin@pelicancancer.org
Feedback from LARS Workshop 2025:
Content was what I hoped it would be and helped me understand a lot more about LARS and raised my awareness of incorporating it into routine telephone call enquiries.
Transformative. I have better understanding of LARS and feel more confident to have a discussion with patients.
Good range of topics covered, nice to hear advice from different backgrounds to draw on various experience in group discussions.
So relevant to practice to help support patients with LARS – really useful tips discussed.