Beyond TME: When and How Should We Extend the Boundaries of Pelvic Cancer Surgery? Pelvic Exenteration, Extra-Anatomical Resection and Lateral Pelvic Lymph Nodes
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The management of locally advanced and recurrent rectal cancer increasingly challenges the traditional anatomical boundaries of total mesorectal excision. Achieving meaningful oncological benefit requires careful patient selection, high-quality imaging, multidisciplinary decision-making and, in selected patients, a willingness to extend surgery beyond conventional planes. This seminar will explore contemporary indications and techniques for extended pelvic surgery, including pelvic exenteration and extra-anatomical resection for advanced and recurrent disease, with particular emphasis on achieving an R0 resection while balancing morbidity, function and quality of life. The evolving management of lateral pelvic lymph nodes will also be addressed, including when and how these should be treated in the era of neoadjuvant therapy and advanced imaging.
Drawing on extensive experience in complex pelvic cancer surgery, the presentation will examine how modern multidisciplinary care, surgical innovation and appropriate extension of anatomical boundaries can offer potentially curative treatment to patients historically considered to have unresectable disease.
Director of the 2nd Surgical Department at HYGEIA Hospital, Athens
Director of IPEX Athens, the International Centre for Advanced Pelvic Oncology and Pelvic Exenteration
Professor Christos Kontovounisios is a colorectal and academic surgeon specialising in advanced colorectal cancer, pelvic exenterative surgery, complex pelvic oncology and robotic surgery. He trained and worked for more than a decade in leading London institutions, including The Royal Marsden Hospital, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
He is currently Director of the 2nd Surgical Department at HYGEIA Hospital in Athens and Director of IPEX Athens, the International Centre for Advanced Pelvic Oncology and Pelvic Exenteration, where he leads multidisciplinary care for complex pelvic malignancies, particularly locally advanced and recurrent rectal cancer.
He is Adjunct Professor of Surgery at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Visiting Reader at Imperial College London, and Visiting Professor of Surgery at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He holds a PhD from the University of Athens and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (FRCS) and the American College of Surgeons (FACS).
His research focuses on colorectal cancer, complex pelvic surgery, surgical innovation and robotic surgery. He has authored more than 250 peer-reviewed publications, with over 10,000 citations, and serves as International Editor of Surgery.
He is Chair-designate of the European Society of Coloproctology Guidelines Committee and is actively involved in international guideline development and health policy, including the European Commission Initiative on Colorectal Cancer.
For enquiries, please contact Ms. TAM at 3469 2465.