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Mark F. Kozloff, MD: The surgery for colorectal cancer will differ depending upon the origination
site of the colorectal cancer. Cancers of the *** that are near the *** may need
what we call an AP resection meaning that everything is removed including the ***.
If a cancer is up higher in the ***, one can do less surgery meaning that one does
not need to remove the ***, but can do what we call a low anterior resection where
just part of the colon removed and the *** is left behind. There are different ways of
doing colorectal cancer, one can do an open type of procedure where there is a larger
incision, also now people are favoring less surgical procedures is in which one can do
laparoscopic surgery. In any case of these surgeries, the cancer needs to be removed,
if the lymph nodes nearby the cancer need to be removed, and one wants adequate amount
of tissue removed. We actually look at the number of lymph nodes that are removed within
the sample of the surgery to determine, if it was an adequate surgery. People feel that
one needs to remove at least 12 or greater lymph nodes to show that it was a good surgical
resection. So, there are ways of checking the quality of the surgery and the surgery
does differ depending upon where the cancer originated from.