Surgery for Rectal Cancer

Rectal cancers may occasionally be removed through the anus. Several procedures are done in this way including:

Polypectomy
When cancer develops within a small polyp, it is removed by cutting across the base of the polyp.

Local excision
A local excision removes the cancer and a small amount of nearby tissue from the inner layer of the rectum.

Full thickness resection
This procedure involves cutting through all layers of the rectum to remove invasive cancers as well as some surrounding normal rectal tissue.

Electrofulguration
This procedure destroys a cancer that can be reached quite easily, by burning it with electric current.

For more advanced stages of rectal cancer, several surgical techniques are used:

Low anterior (LA) resection
Low anterior (LA) resection is used for Stage I, II or III cancers near the upper part of the rectum, close to where it connects with the colon. After some of the rectum is removed, the remaining ends are sewn together, and waste is eliminated in the usual manner.

Abdominoperineal (AP) resection
This procedure is used for cancer in the lower part of the rectum, closer to the anus. After the anus, rectum and lower part of the colon are removed, a colostomy may be needed.

Colostomy
This surgical procedure removes the rectum or diseased tissue and connects the colon to an opening in the abdomen, from where body waste is expelled.

Pelvic exenteration
This is the surgical removal of the rectum, as well as nearby organs such as the bladder, prostate and/or uterus, when the cancer has spread to these organs. A colostomy is needed after pelvic exenteration.

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