Professional title: MD, PhD
Year of primary qualification: 2006
Current institution: Colorectal Surgical Department, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark
Title of presentation: LARS score (Symposium: Functional disorders following intestinal resection)
Learning objectives: Bowel dysfunction after treatment for rectal cancer is a common problem with a major impact on quality of life. Patients recovering after sphincter-preserving surgery often experience incontinence for flatus/faeces, frequent bowel movements, urgency and fragmentation of stools, often referred to as low anterior resection syndrome - or LARS. Within the last decades, several studies have investigated LARS, but unfortunately, most studies have used non-validated questionnaires, or used improper scales.
Clinical/research background
Katrine J. Emmertsen is a surgical trainee in the Central Denmark Region. In September 2013 she defended her PhD thesis called 'Low Anterior Resection Syndrome - Bowel dysfunction after treatment for rectal cance'. She is currently employed in the clinical work at the Surgical Department at Regional Hospital Randers, but continues her research at the Colorectal Surgical Department at Aarhus University Hospital. Her main areas of interest are function and quality of life after treatment for rectal cancer.
She is the main contributor to the development of the LARS score – a new simple scoring system for evaluating bowel function after sphincter-preserving surgery for rectal cancer. This tool was published in 2012, and has now been translated and validated in several languages all over the world and is being used in both clinical practice and in large international research trials.
Relevant peer-reviewed publications
- Emmertsen KJ, Chen TY et Laurberg S. Functional Results after Treatment for Rectal Cancer. J Coloproctol. 2014; 34(1) :55–61
- Emmertsen KJ, Laurberg S; Rectal Cancer Function Study Group. Impact of bowel dysfunction on quality of life after sphincter-preserving resection for rectal cancer. Br J Surg. 2013 Sep;100(10):1377-87
- Emmertsen KJ, Laurberg S et al. A hyperactive postprandial response in the neorectum--the clue to low anterior resection syndrome after total mesorectal excision surgery? Colorectal Dis. 2013 Oct;15(10):e599-606
- Emmertsen KJ et Laurberg S. Low anterior resection syndrome score: development and validation of a symptom-based scoring system for bowel dysfunction after low anterior resection for rectal cancer. Ann Surg. 2012;255(5):922-8
- Emmertsen KJ et Laurberg S. Bowel dysfunction after treatment for rectal cancer. Acta Oncol. 2008;47(6):994-1003
Juul T, Emmertsen KJ et al. International validation of the Low Anterior Resection Syndrome Scor.. Ann Surg. 2014 Apr;259(4):728-34 - Bregendahl S, Emmertsen KJ et al. Neorectal hyposensitivity after neoadjuvant therapy for rectal cancer. Radiother Oncol. 2013 Aug;108(2):331-6
- Bregendahl S, Emmertsen KJ et al. Bowel dysfunction after low anterior resection with and without neoadjuvant therapy for rectal cancer: a population-based, cross-sectional study. Colorectal Dis. 2013 Sep;15(9):1130-9
- Chen TY, Emmertsen KJ et Laurberg S. Bowel dysfunction after rectal cancer treatment: a study comparing the specialist's versus patient's perspective. BMJ Open. 2014 Jan 21;4(1):e003374
- Chen YT, Emmertsen KJ et Laurberg S. What Are the Best Questionnaires to Capture Anorectal Function After Surgery in Rectal Cancer? Current Colorectal Cancer Reports, June 2014,
Information submitted for ESCP Barcelona 2014
