A surgical specialty concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of disorders and abnormalities of the COLON; RECTUM; and ANAL CANAL.

The distal segment of the LARGE INTESTINE, between the SIGMOID COLON and the ANAL CANAL.

Pathological developments in the RECTUM region of the large intestine (INTESTINE, LARGE).

Excision of a portion of the colon or of the whole colon. (Dorland, 28th ed)

Tumors or cancer of the COLON or the RECTUM or both. Risk factors for colorectal cancer include chronic ULCERATIVE COLITIS; FAMILIAL POLYPOSIS COLI; exposure to ASBESTOS; and irradiation of the CERVIX UTERI.

Pathological processes in the COLON region of the large intestine (INTESTINE, LARGE).

Surgery performed on the digestive system or its parts.

Breakdown of the connection and subsequent leakage of effluent (fluids, secretions, air) from a SURGICAL ANASTOMOSIS of the digestive, respiratory, genitourinary, and cardiovascular systems. Most common leakages are from the breakdown of suture lines in gastrointestinal or bowel anastomosis.

Preliminary administration of a drug preceding a diagnostic, therapeutic, or surgical procedure. The commonest types of premedication are antibiotics (ANTIBIOTIC PROPHYLAXIS) and anti-anxiety agents. It does not include PREANESTHETIC MEDICATION.

Surgery which could be postponed or not done at all without danger to the patient. Elective surgery includes procedures to correct non-life-threatening medical problems as well as to alleviate conditions causing psychological stress or other potential risk to patients, e.g., cosmetic or contraceptive surgery.

The segment of LARGE INTESTINE between the CECUM and the RECTUM. It includes the ASCENDING COLON; the TRANSVERSE COLON; the DESCENDING COLON; and the SIGMOID COLON.

A procedure in which a laparoscope (LAPAROSCOPES) is inserted through a small incision near the navel to examine the abdominal and pelvic organs in the PERITONEAL CAVITY. If appropriate, biopsy or surgery can be performed during laparoscopy.

Placement of one of the surgeon's gloved hands into the ABDOMINAL CAVITY to perform manual manipulations that facilitate the laparoscopic procedures.

Infection occurring at the site of a surgical incision.

Gauze material used to absorb body fluids during surgery. Referred to as GOSSYPIBOMA if accidentally retained in the body following surgery.

Pathologic processes that affect patients after a surgical procedure. They may or may not be related to the disease for which the surgery was done, and they may or may not be direct results of the surgery.

Agents that are used to stimulate evacuation of the bowels.

Interventions to provide care prior to, during, and immediately after surgery.

A semisynthetic cephamycin antibiotic that is administered intravenously or intramuscularly. The drug is highly resistant to a broad spectrum of beta-lactamases and is active against a wide range of both aerobic and anaerobic gram-positive and gram-negative microorganisms.

Surgical union or shunt between ducts, tubes or vessels. It may be end-to-end, end-to-side, side-to-end, or side-to-side.

Care given during the period prior to undergoing surgery when psychological and physical preparations are made according to the special needs of the individual patient. This period spans the time between admission to the hospital to the time the surgery begins. (From Dictionary of Health Services Management, 2d ed)

Process of preserving a dead body to protect it from decay.

The period of care beginning when the patient is removed from surgery and aimed at meeting the patient's psychological and physical needs directly after surgery. (From Dictionary of Health Services Management, 2d ed)

The administration of medication or fluid directly into localized lesions, by means of gravity flow or INFUSION PUMPS.

The period of confinement of a patient to a hospital or other health facility.

Evaluation undertaken to assess the results or consequences of management and procedures used in combating disease in order to determine the efficacy, effectiveness, safety, and practicability of these interventions in individual cases or series.

Tumors or cancer of the RECTUM.

Patient care procedures performed during the operation that are ancillary to the actual surgery. It includes monitoring, fluid therapy, medication, transfusion, anesthesia, radiography, and laboratory tests.

The course of learning of an individual or a group. It is a measure of performance plotted over time.

Inflammation of a DIVERTICULUM or diverticula.

Observation of a population for a sufficient number of persons over a sufficient number of years to generate incidence or mortality rates subsequent to the selection of the study group.

A condition caused by the lack of intestinal PERISTALSIS or INTESTINAL MOTILITY without any mechanical obstruction. This interference of the flow of INTESTINAL CONTENTS often leads to INTESTINAL OBSTRUCTION. Ileus may be classified into postoperative, inflammatory, metabolic, neurogenic, and drug-induced.

The period during a surgical operation.

The application of electronic, computerized control systems to mechanical devices designed to perform human functions. Formerly restricted to industry, but nowadays applied to artificial organs controlled by bionic (bioelectronic) devices, like automated insulin pumps and other prostheses.

The period following a surgical operation.

A technique of closing incisions and wounds, or of joining and connecting tissues, in which staples are used as sutures.

A benign epithelial tumor with a glandular organization.

Use of antibiotics before, during, or after a diagnostic, therapeutic, or surgical procedure to prevent infectious complications.

Therapy whose basic objective is to restore the volume and composition of the body fluids to normal with respect to WATER-ELECTROLYTE BALANCE. Fluids may be administered intravenously, orally, by intermittent gavage, or by HYPODERMOCLYSIS.

Studies used to test etiologic hypotheses in which inferences about an exposure to putative causal factors are derived from data relating to characteristics of persons under study or to events or experiences in their past. The essential feature is that some of the persons under study have the disease or outcome of interest and their characteristics are compared with those of unaffected persons.

Elements of limited time intervals, contributing to particular results or situations.

Complications that affect patients during surgery. They may or may not be associated with the disease for which the surgery is done, or within the same surgical procedure.

A nitroimidazole used to treat AMEBIASIS; VAGINITIS; TRICHOMONAS INFECTIONS; GIARDIASIS; ANAEROBIC BACTERIA; and TREPONEMAL INFECTIONS. It has also been proposed as a radiation sensitizer for hypoxic cells. According to the Fourth Annual Report on Carcinogens (NTP 85-002, 1985, p133), this substance may reasonably be anticipated to be a carcinogen (Merck, 11th ed).

Endoscopic examination, therapy or surgery of the luminal surface of the colon.

A group of autosomal-dominant inherited diseases in which COLON CANCER arises in discrete adenomas. Unlike FAMILIAL POLYPOSIS COLI with hundreds of polyps, hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal neoplasms occur much later, in the fourth and fifth decades. HNPCC has been associated with germline mutations in mismatch repair (MMR) genes. It has been subdivided into Lynch syndrome I or site-specific colonic cancer, and LYNCH SYNDROME II which includes extracolonic cancer.

Studies in which individuals or populations are followed to assess the outcome of exposures, procedures, or effects of a characteristic, e.g., occurrence of disease.

An aspect of personal behavior or lifestyle, environmental exposure, or inborn or inherited characteristic, which, on the basis of epidemiologic evidence, is known to be associated with a health-related condition considered important to prevent.

Pain during the period after surgery.

A partial or complete return to the normal or proper physiologic activity of an organ or part following disease or trauma.

Discrete tissue masses that protrude into the lumen of the COLON. These POLYPS are connected to the wall of the colon either by a stalk, pedunculus, or by a broad base.

The capability to perform acceptably those duties directly related to patient care.

Tumors or cancer of the COLON.

A method of studying a drug or procedure in which both the subjects and investigators are kept unaware of who is actually getting which specific treatment.

A malignant epithelial tumor with a glandular organization.

A class of statistical methods applicable to a large set of probability distributions used to test for correlation, location, independence, etc. In most nonparametric statistical tests, the original scores or observations are replaced by another variable containing less information. An important class of nonparametric tests employs the ordinal properties of the data. Another class of tests uses information about whether an observation is above or below some fixed value such as the median, and a third class is based on the frequency of the occurrence of runs in the data. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th ed, p1284; Corsini, Concise Encyclopedia of Psychology, 1987, p764-5)

Surgical procedures aimed at affecting metabolism and producing major WEIGHT REDUCTION in patients with MORBID OBESITY.

A distribution in which a variable is distributed like the sum of the squares of any given independent random variable, each of which has a normal distribution with mean of zero and variance of one. The chi-square test is a statistical test based on comparison of a test statistic to a chi-square distribution. The oldest of these tests are used to detect whether two or more population distributions differ from one another.

Endoscopic examination, therapy or surgery of the sigmoid flexure.

A specialty in which manual or operative procedures are used in the treatment of disease, injuries, or deformities.

Benign neoplasms derived from glandular epithelium. (From Stedman, 25th ed)

A prediction of the probable outcome of a disease based on a individual's condition and the usual course of the disease as seen in similar situations.

Methods which attempt to express in replicable terms the extent of the neoplasm in the patient.

A pyrimidine analog that is an antineoplastic antimetabolite. It interferes with DNA synthesis by blocking the THYMIDYLATE SYNTHETASE conversion of deoxyuridylic acid to thymidylic acid.