Cancer patient provides valuable insights after major pelvic surgery

Editor's Note

A 58-year-old cancer patient in the UK who had all the organs in her pelvis removed in a necessary life-saving procedure is now participating in an ongoing research project aimed at improving similar cancer treatments and outcomes, BBC News September 20 reports. The patient had cancer affecting her abdomen and pelvis, requiring a total pelvic exenteration that removing her bladder, rectum, part of the colon, her uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries, and part of her pelvic and pubic bones.

Skin and muscle were also removed from her abdomen "to fill in those areas removed," according to the article. Still, the patient agreed to participate in the Reconstruction in Extended MArgin Cancer Surgery (REMACS) study at Southampton General Hospital, which looks at quality of life post-surgery and aims to determine the best methods for reconstruction. According to the NHS Health Research Authority, the duration of the study is 3 years and 1 day.

A colorectal surgery research fellow at the University of Southampton told the BBC that these types of major surgical procedures leave large wounds and much uncertainty, and it is "invaluable" to have the patient’s participation in order to ultimately improve these procedures and the subsequent quality of life for affected patients.