TCRS is the largest colorectal cancer specialist group in North Texas, with the most accomplished team of colorectal surgeons in the Southwest U.S. All of our surgeons are certified by the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery and are committed to continually advancing their surgical skills in the treatment of colorectal cancer and other colorectal conditions. From diagnosis to treatment, you can rest assured that you’re receiving the highest standard of care.
The term colorectal cancer is used to describe both colon and rectal cancers. As the area’s leading experts in treatment of colorectal diseases and disorders, TCRS specialists provide the most advanced medical options available for prevention and treatment of both.
Colorectal cancer affects both men and women equally and the risk increases after age 50. Additional risk factors include having a chronic inflammatory bowel disease such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease, or having a parent, sibling or child who has had colorectal cancer or polyps.
Colorectal cancer is preventable and treatable. When detected in its initial stages, colorectal cancer is treatable and even potentially curable. In fact, the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons reports that 80-90% of patients are restored to normal health if the cancer is diagnosed and treated early.
Prevention starts with a screening colonoscopy. Almost all colorectal cancers begin as a benign polyp in the colon. A TCRS colorectal specialist can quickly find and remove polyps during a screening colonoscopy, thereby preventing them from growing into cancer. TCRS recommends you have a screening colonoscopy at age 50 and as recommended by your physician thereafter.
Healthy choices help prevent colorectal cancer. While screening colonoscopies can prevent colorectal cancer by detecting polyps, a healthy lifestyle also goes a long way toward circumventing the disease. There are many simple choices you can make to help keep colorectal cancer at bay:
Exercise
Maintain a healthy weight
Eat high-fiber foods
Don’t smoke
Oftentimes, early colorectal cancer has no symptoms at all. This is why a screening colonoscopy is vitally important. Other times, the first sign of colorectal cancer is a low red blood cell count (anemia) due to undetected internal bleeding.
But many times there are clear warning signs. Colorectal cancer may cause one or more of the following symptoms:
Other non-cancerous conditions such as infection, hemorrhoids, irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease may also exhibit similar symptoms. If you experience one or more, see your doctor immediately so the cause can be found and treated, if necessary.
Despite its high recovery rate among both men and women, colorectal cancer remains the second-most common cause of cancer deaths in the United States. Prevention is best. But if you are among the 140,000 people affected by the disease each year, TCRS can help.
Robotic colorectal surgery begins much like traditional laparascopic surgery. Once the patient is anesthetized, one of our certified robotic colorectal surgery specialists makes four tiny incisions, inserts trocars and inflates the abdominal cavity. The surgeon then docks the robotic unit—a four-armed device which operates a laparoscope and up to three specialized surgical instruments—into the trocars and moves to a separate console. Using a high-definition 3-D monitor and hand controls, your TCRS colorectal surgeon is then able to perform the operation with an unprecedented degree of precision and is always in complete control—the robot cannot move without instructions from the surgeon.
Laparoscopic colorectal surgery is a minimally invasive surgical technique in which a micro-camera and micro-instruments are used to view the contents of the abdomen and perform surgery. TCRS physicians are renowned experts in the field of laparoscopic colorectal surgery and frequently lead national teaching seminars on the subject. Our specialists perform the vast majority of all colorectal surgeries laparoscopically, thus assuring patients faster recovery and less pain than traditional invasive methods used by 80% of surgeons.
Transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEMS) is a minimally invasive outpatient procedure used to remove rectal polyps or growths that are too high or too large to access via colonoscopy or traditional invasive transanal methods, thus avoiding abdominal surgery. Performed through the anus, no incisions are needed and patients typically feel no pain during the procedure. TEMS is used specifically to treat early rectal cancers and has a much lower rate of polyps recurrence compared to standard transanal removal.
Transanal minimally invasive surgery (TAMIS) is a new minimally invasive technique for performing local excision of well-selected rectal neoplasms. It utilizes a single-incision laparoscopic port as access into the rectal vault. TAMIS provides a quality of surgical resection similar to TEM.
Call us at 1-877-275-8277 to schedule an appointment to treat your colorectal needs or to schedule a screening examination.
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