Colorectal Surgery
Colorectal surgery is a field in medicine dealing with disorders of the rectum, anus, and colon. The field is also known as proctology, but this term is now used infrequently within medicine and is most often employed to identify practices relating to the anus and rectum in particular.Colon and rectum combine to form the bowel. The purpose of the bowel is to eliminate the waste material after digestion. There are several conditions that affect the functioning of colon and rectum. If the disease is confined to colon, the condition is known as colon disease. Disease confined only to rectum is known as rectal disease. However, some diseases affect both the colon and the rectum. Such diseases are termed as colorectal diseases. Some of the examples of colorectal diseases include colorectal cancer, colon polyps, Ulcerative colitis, and Crohn’s disease. The patients with colorectal diseases experience several symptoms. These are abdominal pain, blood in the stool, rectal bleeding, and prolong constipation and diarrhea.
Colorectal surgeons are specialists in the treatment of the lower gastrointestinal (GI) system, including the small and large bowel (or colon), the rectum, and the anus. They are trained general surgeons with additional fellowship training in specialized techniques for surgery on these organs. The most common disorders treated are cancer, diverticulitis, inflammatory bowel disease, and hemorrhoids. Specialized techniques include robotic surgery, laparoscopic surgery, transanal surgery, and colonoscopy.
There are several conditions when the doctor recommend colorectal surgeries. Some of the conditions are:
Colorectal Cancer
Colorectal cancer is the second most common preventable cancer after lung cancer. That’s a staggering figure when you consider the disease is potentially curable if diagnosed in the early stages. It is generally agreed that nearly all colon and rectal cancer begins in benign polyps. These pre-malignant growths occur on the bowel wall and may eventually increase in size and become cancer. Removal of benign polyps is one aspect of preventive medicine that really works!
Hemorrhoids
Often described as “varicose veins of the anus and rectum”, hemorrhoids are enlarged, bulging blood vessels in and about the anus and lower rectum. There are two types of hemorrhoids: external and internal, which refer to their location.External (outside) hemorrhoids develop near the anus and are covered by very sensitive skin. These are usually painless. However, if a blood clot (thrombosis) develops in an external hemorrhoid, it becomes a painful, hard lump. The external hemorrhoid may bleed if it ruptures.
Rectal Prolapse
Rectal prolapse is a condition in which the rectum (the lower end of the colon, located just above the anus) becomes stretched out and protrudes out of the anus. Weakness of the anal sphincter muscle is often associated with rectal prolapse at this stage, resulting in leakage of stool or mucus. While the condition occurs in both sexes, it is much more common in women than men.