Expert: John C. M.D. - 12/28/2000

Question
My mom is 76 yrs. old and has had 3 colonoscopies in the past 3 months.  Now she must have surgery for a tubulovillous adenoma.  Her primary doctor said she will be hospitalized for 10 days.  What will be involved in this proceedure?
Thanks so much!

Answer
I don't have enough information to give you an accurate answer, only a guess.  My guess is that they were unable to completely removed the adenoma by colonoscopy. To completely remove the risk of cancer from this adenoma, they are going to perform a colon or rectal resection depending on where it is located.
IF she is having a colon resection, it involves making a long incision on the abdomen, freeing the involved colon from surrounding attachments, tying of the blood supply to the colon to be resected, removing the colon, and finally reconnecting the ends of the intestine in most cases.  In some cases, a colostomy is necessary if the surgery is complicated.
The uncomplicated recovery time includes waking up from surgery, waiting for the intestinal function to recover which can take many days, and then making sure your mother is able to keep liquids down that her pain is controlled on oral pain medications.  Once these things are accomplished, the patient can usually go home.  There are a number of complications that are possible however, that could extend the hospital stay.

John W. Cromwell, M.D.