Grant Benefits Patients like Leslie Prescott

4 June 2009

A grant of £23,557.20 by ACT to the Colorectal Surgery Department at Addenbrooke’s has enabled the purchase of transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEMS) equipment, which has proved to be a huge benefit to patients, enabling advanced surgery of the rectum to be carried out without major abdominal surgery.

Just over year ago patients from Addenbrooke’s with conditions such as rectal polyps (a fleshy pre-cancerous growth on the lining of the back passage) had to travel to London or Oxford to have the polyp removed with TEMS equipment. The equipment enables patients to be treated via the rectum using an endoscope (an instrument used to look inside the body) and is similar to other kinds of operations such as laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery. This means they do not need to have full open abdominal surgery.

Although transanal excision is standard practice, it is very difficult perform the surgery further than 5 centimetres into the rectum without TEMS equipment, and NHS funding was unable to cover the full purchase cost of the equipment at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. 

The benefits of this equipment mean that patients can be treated as a day case or with just an overnight stay. There is virtually no pain and patients can eat and drink straight away.

Consultant, Miss Nicola Fearnhead, who recognised the benefit of TEMS equipment and made the application to ACT for the grant said: “It is an excellent addition to what we can offer our patients. We have done fifteen operations since the equipment was first used in June 2008. Almost all of these patients have avoided major abdominal surgery while still getting appropriate treatment for their tumours. ”

The first patient to be treated with the equipment was Mr Leslie Prescott, aged 78, from Great Shelford. Because of Mr Prescott’s particular condition, Miss Fearnhead recommended that transanal microscopic surgery would be more suitable than full open abdominal surgery. Thankfully instead of having to travel to Oxford for the surgery, as initially expected, Mr Prescott was able to have the surgery at Addenbrooke’s, just a short distance from his home. Mr Prescott arrived at Addenbrooke’s on a Friday morning, had his operation in the afternoon and happily walked home the following day.

It is now nearly a year since Mr Prescott’s surgery. He said: “I’m very, very, grateful to the hospital. They have been terrific. I dread what the alternative would have been. Miss Fearnhead is absolutely brilliant. I think the world of her.”

The provision of equipment like this through charitable funding can prove to be hugely beneficial to patients at Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie. Funding like this comes from donations made to the hospital in general (not to a specific ward or department) enabling the charity to spend the money where it is needed most to benefit patients.

To find out more about making a donation click here.