Single-incision proctocolectomy leaves small scar, reduces big risk
Cleveland Clinic surgeons used a single-port approach to remove the entire large intestine of a 13-year-old patient who was diagnosed with a rare, genetic condition that leads to colon cancer. The successful, minimally invasive surgery left only a coin-sized scar on his abdomen.
The surgery, performed by a Cleveland Clinic colorectal surgeon, removed the boy’s entire large intestine and rectum, and created a j-shaped pouch from the small intestine to reconnect the digestive tract. The total proctocolectomy significantly reduces the patient’s risk of developing colon cancer.
The total proctocolectomy and ileoanal pouch procedure, performed in June, is believed to be the first in the world done through a single-incision, laparoscopic technique. The technique leads to significantly reduced external scarring, decreased infection risk, reduced post-operative pain and faster recovery for the patient.
The procedure was recommended after a colonoscopy revealed many large polyps in the boy’s large intestine. The polyps were caused by an inherited condition called familial adenomatous polyposis, or FAP, which causes the growth of hundreds of pre-cancerous polyps in the colon and rectum.
Cleveland Clinic’s innovation in minimally invasive surgery also includes the first single-port laparoscopic colon resection entirely through a single incision in the navel, performed in 2007 by Feza Remzi, MD, the first physician to hold the Ed and Joey Story Endowed Chair in Colorectal Surgery.
Digestive Disease Institute: Formula for Success
As one of the top centers in the nation, the Cleveland Clinic Digestive Disease Institute is the first of its kind to unite specialists in gastroenterology, hepatology, colorectal surgery, hepato-pancreato-biliary and transplant surgery, and nutrition services. This collaboration better serves patients, while enhancing opportunities for research and physician education.
Philanthropic support provides the Digestive Disease Institute physicians the freedom to conduct innovative research, improve and test new treatments, create new programs to better serve patients’ needs and assist individuals who incur financial burdens due to disease.
The opening of new facilities on the Cleveland Clinic campus has provided an opportunity for the institute to move into a wing of operating rooms that will be updated specifically for digestive disease procedures and renamed in honor of institute Chairman Victor Fazio, MD. Philanthropic support for the Victor Fazio, MD, Surgical Suites will equip the rooms with the newest technology for minimally invasive surgery, allowing Cleveland Clinic surgeons to stay at the forefront of their field. Additional support for the Victor W. Fazio, MD, Center for IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) will be used for the education of future IBD specialists through clinical and research fellowships, clinical outcomes investigation, and basic and translational genetics research.
Dr. Fazio, an internationally known colorectal surgeon, holds the Rupert B. Turnbull, MD, Chair in Colorectal Surgery, supported by philanthropic endowment.
To make a gift supporting the Digestive Disease Institute or any area of Cleveland Clinic, visit our secure online giving site, or call Institutional Relations and Development at 216.444.1245 or toll-free at 800.223.2273, ext. 41245.
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