Trans-Anal Minimally Invasive Surgery (TAMIS) is a procedure dedicated to localised lesions of the rectum. It is often used to resect or remove tumours or polyps of the rectum that is too large to remove via colonoscopy. In selected patients, it removes the tumour or polyps of the rectum locally without a major operation to remove the whole rectum.
It involves placing a special port into the anal canal, the rectum is distended with gas, then using standard laparoscopic instruments (key-hole surgery), the tumour is resected locally. This is much less invasive procedure than standard resection of the rectum. Patients can often go home the next day and back to normal activities very quickly. It can only perform local resection so only suitable for a selected group of patients. Your surgeon will discuss with you if you will be suitable for such a procedure.