Colon trouble can affect much of your daily life and activities. If you are facing one of the many diseases that can affect your bowels, we know you want answers and the best care possible.

If you’ve tried conservative measures and medications and they have not helped you, surgery may be the right option for you.

At Lakeland Regional Health, we provide complete colorectal surgical care. Colorectal surgeons are trained in general surgery and colon and rectal surgery, specializing in the diagnosis and surgical treatment of many diseases and conditions that affect the colon, rectum and anus. Colorectal surgeons work with many other specialists to make sure you receive the care you need.

Connect with an experienced colorectal surgeon.

Common conditions we treat include:

Colorectal Cancer
• Colon Cancer
• Rectal Cancer
• Anal Cancer

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD)
• Crohn’s Disease
• Ulcerative Colitis
• Indeterminate Colitis
• Perianal Crohn’s

Functional Bowel Disorder
• Slow Transit Constipation
• Rectal Prolapse
• Rectovaginal Fistula
• Fecal Incontinence
• Sphincter Injury

Familial Inherited Colorectal
Neoplasia
• Familial Adenomatous
 Polyposis Syndrome (FAP)
• Lynch Syndrome / Hereditary
 Nonpolyposis Colorectal
 Cancer (HNPCC)
• Hereditary Nonpolyposis
 Colorectal Cancer (HNPCC)
• Serrated Polyposis Syndrome/
 Hyperplastic Polyposis
 Syndrome
• Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome
• Juvenile Polyposis Syndrome

Benign Anorectal Disease
• Anal Fistula
• Anal Fissure
• Abscess
• Hemorrhoids
• Anal Condyloma

Diverticular Disease and
other Colitis
• Diverticulitis
• Diverticular Abscesses
and Fistulas

Colonoscopy
• Colorectal cancer screening
strategies
• Diagnostic Colonoscopy
• Polyps of the colon and rectum

Other
• Ischemic Colitis
• C difficile Colitis requiring surgery
• Colonic strictures
• Presacral Tumors
• Appendiceal Neoplasms
• Neuroendocrine
 (Carcinoid) Tumors

Services we provide:

  • Anal, colon and rectal procedures
  • Anal abscess surgery
  • Anal fistula surgery
  • Hemorrhoidectomy
  • Intestinal stoma surgery
  • Robotic and laparoscopic colon
    and rectal surgery
  • Procedures for fecal incontinence
  • Laparoscopic small intestinal resection
  • J-pouch surgery
  • Therapeutic colonoscopy
  • Transanal minimally invasive surgery (TAMIS)
  • Procedures for rectal prolapse

Common colorectal treatment descriptions

Colonoscopy

  • A colonoscopy is a screening tool for colon cancer, which is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. A colonoscopy is typically done by gastroenterologists who are physicians trained in internal medicine and gastroenterology to treat conditions affecting any part of the digestive tract. A colonoscopy can help your doctor view the health of your colon and identify and remove polyps before they can become cancerous.

     

    Colorectal surgeons receive referrals from gastroenterologists for a variety of reasons, including colon cancer (detected through screening), bowel conditions like Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis that have not responded to medical treatment.

Colectomy

A colectomy is the surgical procedure to remove part or all of the colon which is the lower part of your large intestine. Certain diseases or conditions may require the need for part or all of your colon to be removed. There are different types of colectomies:

 

· Total colectomy – the entire colon is removed

· Partial colectomy – only part of the colon is removed.

 

The colon helps the body process fluids and eliminate waste, but sometimes blockages, including tumors can hinder this process. Chronic inflammation in the bowels can result from several different conditions, including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Using advanced surgical procedures, colorectal surgeons can help restore the function of the colon by removing obstructions and sometimes removing part or all of the colon.

Anorectal Surgery

Anorectal surgeries are done to correct various conditions that affect the anus and rectum. Patients may develop an anorectal abscess or fistula (an infected tunnel between the skin and the anus), for example, that require surgical intervention. This can be done in a variety of ways to control infection and preserve as much function as possible. Anal abscesses will usually necessitate incision and drainage procedures while chronic fistulas can be managed with seton drainage followed by more advanced surgical approaches. Anal fissures (small tears) can also develop and typically present with anorectal pain. This condition is usually treated with conservative measures, but many times may require surgical intervention to help the fissure heal and the pain to resolve. Lateral internal sphincterotomy, where a small cut is made on the internal anal sphincter, can be done to help relax the anal muscles, relieve the pain of the fissure and allow it to heal. Hemorrhoids are also a common condition that can affect the anorectal region.

 

While changes in diet and increasing fluid intake are usually all that is needed to help with hemorrhoids, surgery can play a role in the management of the more painful and chronic hemorrhoid symptoms. Rubber band ligation of bleeding hemorrhoids is a simple and relatively painless procedure in which a rubber band is applied to cut off the blood supply to the hemorrhoid, causing it to shrink and fall off. This procedure can be done on certain types of hemorrhoids while other types may need to be surgically removed.

 

Sometimes polyps or small masses can develop in the rectum, which may be amenable to removal by minimally invasive means.  When these growths meet specific criteria, minimally invasive surgery can be done transanally with special instrumentation to avoid the need for more invasive procedures.