Rome, first rectal cancer removal on awake patient at Santo Spirito

2023-07-20 18:42:28

At the Santo Spirito hospital in Rome, the oldest in Europe, “for the first time, surgery for the removal of a rectal tumor” was performed on an awake patient, “using loco-regional anesthesia”. Asl Roma 1 communicates it, underlining that “it is a now consolidated technique – spinal-epidural loco-regional anesthesia – but rarely practiced in major abdominal surgery and in particular oncology”. The decision to adopt it was made by a multi-professional team “given the particular fragility and comorbidities of the patient, which did not allow surgery under general anesthesia”.

“The anesthetic technique adopted – reports the ASL – allowed the patient to remain awake and cooperative throughout the duration of the operation. In addition to speaking with the anesthesiologists and surgeons, the staff was able to keep all the cardio-respiratory functions under direct control, reducing the negative effects of general anesthesia”.

Alessandra Villani and Francesco Marrone from Mario Bosco’s team, head of Anesthesia and Intensive Care Asl Rm1, are in charge of anesthesia. The rectal tumor resection surgery was instead performed by the head of general and emergency surgery of Santo Spirito and Nuovo Regina Margherita, Luca Lepre, and by Michela Giulii Capponi. “The intervention – remarks the ASL – was made possible thanks to the high professional level and above all to the incredible harmony between all the professional figures involved, from specialists to surgeons, from anesthesiologists to operating room nurses”.