Meeting the Surgical Team

Your surgery will be scheduled after all of the important steps in preparation have been completed. It is our priority to schedule your procedure as soon as possible. We will also ask for you to be seen in our pre-admission clinic by our nursing and anesthesia teams. It is important to understand that this will often occur within 4 weeks of consultation. Scheduling your surgery will depend on your current physical fitness to undergo an operation, the need for further testing  to optimize surgical planning and operating room availability (this may be affected by restrictions caused by the ongoing COVID pandemic). Research has suggested it is safe to wait for 4-6 weeks for your procedure. Please refer to this document for further details.

Rectal cancer patients will often need to be treated with chemotherapy and radiation therapy before surgery. Prior to proceeding with surgery, your surgical team will repeat the MRI and endoscopy to reassess how the tumour has responded to treatment. Additionally, it is quite common for patients to have their operation performed 8-12 weeks after completing chemotherapy or radiation. The timing will be further explained by your surgical team.