Far East Rand Hospital performs its first advanced colorectal surgical
Far East Rand Hospital’s achieved yet another successful procedure of its first advanced colorectal surgery on January 27.
Far East Rand Hospital (FERH) has reached yet another milestone with its first perineal rectosigmoidectomy surgery.
The surgery, also known as an altemeier procedure for full-thickness rectal prolapse, was led by a surgical gastroenterologist and the head of the Colorectal Surgery Unit at Helen Joseph Hospital, Dr Nomsa Nkosi.
The procedure was performed on a 74-year-old patient, who would have had to be referred to Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital had it not been done on January 27.
According to the head of surgery, Dr Nana Osei-Kuffour, without this surgery the patient would suffer from constipation, inflammation, skin irritation, blood or mucus drainage, incomplete bowel emptying and reduced quality of life.
“Sometimes prolapsed rectum becomes strangulated and cannot be manually reduced,” Osei-Kuffour explains.
“This results in a surgical emergency, needing theatre, and often a colostomy or stoma.”
He added that the risk during the procedure in women is injury to the posterior wall of the uterus and bleeding or retraction of the rectum into the abdomen.
Hospital CEO Sonwabo Lindani committed that the facility will soon officially open a colorectal C-scope clinic in collaboration with Nkosi.
“We want to bring services to our patients near them,” says Lindani.
“Nkosi passionately led her team on her personal generosity as part of her outreach programme in honour of the hospital’s late surgeon, Dr Edward Gama.”
