Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Surg Proced. Mar 28, 2015; 5(1): 1-13
Published online Mar 28, 2015. doi: 10.5412/wjsp.v5.i1.1
Impact of technology on indications and limitations for transanal surgical removal of rectal neoplasms
Bikash Devaraj, Andreas M Kaiser
Bikash Devaraj, Andreas M Kaiser, Department of Colorectal Surgery, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, United States
Author contributions: Devaraj B and Kaiser AM contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest: Both authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Andreas M Kaiser, MD, FACS, FASCRS, Professor of Clinical Surgery, Department of Colorectal Surgery, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, 1441 Eastlake Avenue, Suite 7418, Los Angeles, CA 90033, United States. akaiser@usc.edu
Telephone: +1-323-8653690 Fax: +1-323-8653671
Received: September 30, 2014
Peer-review started: October 1, 2014
First decision: October 28, 2014
Revised: November 4, 2014
Accepted: December 16, 2014
Article in press: December 17, 2014
Published online: March 28, 2015
Core Tip

Core tip: The review summarizes the technology advances and analyzes their impact on the validity of local transanal management of benign vs malignant rectal neoplasms. Current data demonstrate that transanal surgery remains an excellent option for benign disease. As transanal platforms continue to evolve, caution should be used when selecting patients with malignant disease. In view of the fact that the alternative of abdominal oncological procedures (laparoscopic, robotic, open) provide high cure rates, it is important to remain cognizant and not sacrifice long term survival for short term benefits (decrease in morbidity and improved cosmesis).