Cancer Information:
Rectal Cancer

Rectal cancer effects over 40,000 individuals each year. It is a cancer of the lowest portion of the large intestine, usually within one to several inches of the anus. Patients present to their physicians with rectal bleeding, changes in bowel habits, or sometimes anemia. When it is diagnosed, there are two major goals here at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in treating the patient.

The first goal of our approach is to cure you of your cancer. To achieve this goal, we must clearly determine the extent or "stage" of the rectal cancer. The types of therapies that can be offered differ depending upon the extent of the disease.

The second goal is to cure you of your cancer while avoiding a permanent colostomy. This approach is called "sphincter-sparing" surgery. In some cases anal sphincter preservation is not possible. However, in most cases with either surgery alone or surgery in combination with radiation and chemotherapy, you as the patient can be cured of your rectal cancer and retain your anus so as to be able to evacuate without the need of a permanent colostomy.

Rectal cancer often requires extra or "adjuvant" therapy. We work in conjunction with the Radiation Therapists here at Brigham and Women's Hospital and with the oncologists of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to provide a multimodality treatment.

		Local excision of a small distal rectal cancer  The tumor is removed through an anal approach. A full-thickness "disc" is removed from the rectal wall and a small defect is sewn closed. Click for larger image
		Rectosigmoid Resection  For most rectal cancers, a segment of the colon is removed and then normal colon from above the removed segment is attached, often with a special stapling instrument, to the remaining rectum. Click for larger image