Radiation therapy is commonly utilized as a major component in the treatment of pelvic malignancy. Unfortunately, secondary toxicity to the lower gastrointestinal tract can occur. This most commonly affects the rectum, although injuries to the colon and small intestine are not uncommon. The presentation can be acute or chronic, and different mechanisms are responsible for each. Symptomatology is quite variable but can result in significant compromise for the patient. Numerous preventive and treatment strategies have been applied to this disease process. This article presents a summary of the current knowledge regarding radiation injury to the lower gastrointestinal tract with special emphasis on treatment options for radiation proctitis.

The quality and the extent of intra-abdominal visualization are critical to a laparoscopic procedure. Currently, a single laparoscope is inserted into one of the laparoscopic ports to provide intra-abdominal visualization. The extent of this field of view (FoV) is rather restricted and may limit efficiency and the range of operations. Here we report a trocar-camera assembly (TCA) that promises a large FoV, and improved efficiency and range of operations. A video stitching program processes video data from multiple miniature cameras and combines these videos in real-time. This stitched video is then displayed on an operating monitor with a much larger FoV than that of a single camera. In addition, we successfully performed a standard and a modified bean drop task, without any distortion, in a simulator box by using the TCA and taking advantage of its FoV which is larger than that of the current laparoscopic cameras. We successfully demonstrated its improved efficiency and range of operations. The TCA frees up a surgical port and potentially eliminates the need of physical maneuvering of the laparoscopic camera, operated by an assistant.