Med Tech-related technology assessments from NICE in November 2025

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) develops Interventional Procedures Guidance (IPG) for most novel interventional procedures entering the English market. The program focuses solely on clinical evidence. Recommendations may vary from "for research only" to "for use with standard arrangements for clinical governance, consent, and audit." Recommendations are not binding, although they are followed by providers and commissioners.

In November 2025, NICE released one new IPG on low-energy contact X-ray brachytherapy for rectal cancer with the following recommendations depending on clinical indications:

• The procedure can be used as an option to treat early-stage and locally advanced rectal cancer when either the person chooses not to have surgery, and the tumor is 3 cm or less and has not spread beyond stage T3b or N1 (with limited nodal involvement), or the risks of surgery are unacceptably high. People with larger tumors (with limited nodal involvement) may become eligible for this procedure if neoadjuvant treatment (external beam radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy) reduces the tumor to 3 cm or less and it has not spread beyond stage T3bN1M0. NICE recommended the procedure for early-stage or locally advanced rectal cancer because evidence shows it can effectively control the condition while preserving the rectum and avoiding permanent stomas, improving patients' quality of life. 
• For people with metastatic rectal cancer, the procedure should only be performed as part of a formal research study, and a research ethics committee needs to have approved its use. More research, in the form of randomized controlled trials and prospective registries, is required on patient selection, including tumor type and suitability of surgery, the role of neoadjuvant treatment, treatment intent, patient-reported outcomes (such as quality of life and functional outcomes), survival, and long-term outcomes. NICE made these recommendations due to limited evidence on the safety and effectiveness of the procedure for metastatic rectal cancer.

Furthermore, in November 2025, NICE published three new clinical guidelines on suspected sepsis in pregnant or recently pregnant people, in people aged 16 or over, and in people under 16.

See the full details here.

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