February 21, 2005
SJH&NC recently became the first hospital in southeast Michigan to offer a new minimally invasive procedure for removing rectal tumors.

Transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM) allows removal of benign or early malignant tumors through the rectum. It can also remove benign lesions of the rectum, recurrences of lesions and early stages of rectal cancer.

During a TEM procedure, a protoscope is inserted up to 20 centimeters into the rectum, the patient is spared the deep abdominal incisions, long hospital stays and weeks of recovery time that are standard with conventional surgery. As a result, the typical recovery period for this surgery is one day compared to six to eight weeks.

“This is revolutionary in rectal surgery technology,” says Abdelkader Hawasli, MD, director of Laparoscopic Surgery and the St. John Minimally Invasive Surgery Center. “It is an easy outpatient procedure with no incision and no pain.”

The first TEM patient at SJH&MC, Norbert Czajkowski, MD, of St. Clair, was released less than 24 hours after the procedure. He called the procedure a “small miracle.”

For more information about TEM, contact the Minimally Invasive Surgery Center at 1-888-475-6472.