When colorectal cancers are found and treated early, up to 90 percent are curable. At Penn Medicine, we take these outcomes a step further — providing the latest advances and a focus on preserving function to enhance your quality of life.
Rectal Cancer Surgery: Why Choose the Abramson Cancer Center?
To effectively treat rectal cancer, doctors from different specialties must collaborate to provide complete care. At the Abramson Cancer Center, we excel at this treatment approach.
Your team includes nationally-renowned experts in medical oncology, gastroenterology, radiology, pathology and rectal surgery — coming together to create personalized treatment plans that lead to the best possible outcomes. Our specialists are in constant communication about patients and meet regularly to work through complicated cases.
You also experience:
- Skilled surgeons: Our colorectal surgeons are all board-certified and fellowship-trained, with the highest level of surgical education possible. Their specialized expertise in rectal cancer surgery allows them to take on even the most complicated cases and deliver the best possible outcomes.
- Minimally invasive options: We offer laparoscopic and robotic surgeries to treat rectal tumors. These minimally invasive methods make recovery easier and lower complication risks.
- Enhanced recoveries: Our enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols help our patients experience better pain management, fewer complications and shorter hospital stays after surgery.
- Latest treatments: Through our robust clinical trial program, you have access to promising new rectal cancer treatments. We are the only health care facility in the U.S. using proton therapy in clinical trials to treat recurrent GI tumors (cancer that returns after treatment). Proton therapy is a highly precise form of radiation that minimizes damage to healthy tissues near the tumor. Learn more about our rectal cancer treatment.
- Treatment side effect management: Rectal cancer treatment sometimes causes bowel, bladder or sexual function problems. Providers in our Palliative Care Program work with your treatment team to proactively address these concerns and enhance your quality of life.
- Prehab before surgery: Good health before surgery leads to better outcomes. If you're not healthy enough for surgery or more likely to experience complications, we can address those issues ahead of time. In our Cancer Appetite and Rehabilitation (CARE) Clinic, we provide personalized care to optimize your health, including nutrition counseling and physical therapy.
- Seamless care: Our skilled nurse navigators provide an extra layer of support. They use their colorectal cancer expertise to provide reliable advice, respond to your concerns and help you navigate the care you receive across our health system. Meet the oncology nurse navigators.
Types of Rectal Cancer Surgery
Over the past few years, rectal cancer surgery outcomes have significantly improved thanks to the addition of chemotherapy and radiation to treatment plans. Patients are also less likely to experience significant treatment side effects in the hands of experienced surgeons like those at Penn.
We provide comprehensive rectal cancer surgery options, including:
- Polypectomy and local excisions: These procedures remove precancerous polyps and early-stage tumors. Doctors can do them during colonoscopies.
- Transanal excision (TAE): Also called a local transanal resection, doctors access the cancer through special instruments that go into the rectum through the anus. During this procedure, surgeons cut layers of the rectal wall to remove early-stage cancers.
- Transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM): This procedure is for early-stage cancers that are too high in the rectum for TAE. Our skilled surgeons remove these tumors with great precision and accuracy using special magnifying scopes and equipment.
- Transanal total mesorectal excision (TaTME): TaTME is a minimally invasive procedure that involves the removal of the tumor, the bowel it was in and surrounding tissue and lymph nodes. This technique uses a special camera that allows surgeons to see the tumor without making a large incision.
- Low anterior resection (LAR): Doctors use low anterior resection to treat stage I, II or III rectal cancers in the upper part of the rectum. They remove the part of the rectum that contains the tumor.
- Proctectomy with coloanal anastomosis: During proctectomy, doctors remove the entire rectum to treat stage I, II or III rectal cancers in the middle or lower third of the rectum.
- Abdominoperineal resection (APR): Doctors use abdominoperineal resections to remove stage I, II or III rectal cancers in the lower part of the rectum or tumors that may be growing into the sphincter muscle. It involves removal of the anus, rectum, part of the colon and sometimes some lymph nodes.
- Pelvic exenteration: Pelvic exenteration is major surgery that involves the removal of both the rectum and any affected nearby organs, including the bladder, prostate or uterus.
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