NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - June 15, 2007) - A small number of patients diagnosed with polyps in their large intestine have extensive or difficult-to-remove polyps, such as those that are flattened against the colon wall or in hard-to-reach places. As with all polyps that may develop into malignant cancers, they must be removed. Unlike regular polyps, extensive or difficult-to-reach polyps have, until now, necessitated open surgery with a lengthy recovery time.

Now, an experimental procedure, laparoscopic surgery combined with carbon-dioxide assisted colonoscopy, allows most patients to return home in less than a day -- a potential advantage over traditional open surgery, which requires a three- to seven-day hospital stay. The new procedure was developed and offered exclusively in the New York metro area by colon and rectal surgeons at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

On June 20, the procedure will be discussed live by NewYork-Presbyterian surgeons and available via Webcast on OR Live.

"It's reassuring to our patients getting preventive colonoscopies that no matter what kind of polyp we find, in almost all instances, we can remove it with minimal discomfort and inconvenience," says Dr. Jeffrey Milsom, the DeCosse Distinguished Professor of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College and attending surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell.

The new procedure, which was developed by Dr. Milsom and colleagues at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, is a combination of traditional colonoscopy and laparoscopic surgery, in which surgeons inflate the colon with CO2, locate the polyp via colonoscopy, then use new laparoscopic techniques to facilitate the endoscopic removal of the lesion. The procedure can be augmented and made safer with a few quick sutures placed laparoscopically where the polyp once was.

"Unlike regular air that is used in traditional colonoscopic procedures, carbon dioxide doesn't cause the patient to get bloated or make the bowels distended. It also quickly deflates, giving us room to remove the polyp," says Dr. Milsom.

Another new procedure, hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery (HALS) for colectomy, combines the benefits of laparoscopic surgery and open surgery may decrease the time they spend in the operating room. This procedure will also be addressed during the upcoming Webcast.

Dr. Richard L. Whelan, chief of colon and rectal surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center and associate professor of surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, comments, "The advantage of this method is that the surgeon regains the ability to palpate, retract, and dissect manually which facilitates completion of the case. HALS also allows us to offer laparoscopic surgery to patients than would otherwise be possible."

Laparoscopic colectomy methods were introduced about 16 years ago and have been developed and refined since. When doing laparoscopic colectomy, unlike cholecystectomy, a small incision is needed at the end to remove the specimen and to facilitate the anastomosis. The main goal of laparoscopic colectomy is to successfully complete the resection with as small an incision as possible. Some time after laparoscopic colectomy came on the scene hand-assisted laparoscopic methods were developed and introduced. With this technique an incision large enough to allow one hand to be passed into the abdomen is made early in the case. One of various available devices is used to make a seal around the hand so that the abdomen can be insufflated and the case done laparoscopically with one hand in the abdomen

Visit http://www.or-live.com/nyp/1776 now to learn more about this procedure for treating colon cancer and rectal cancer. VNR: http://www.or-live.com/rams/nep-1776-mkw-q.ram