Russian School Of Colorectal Surgery Celebrated Its Tenth Anniversary

2023 Author: Abraham Higgins | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 23:16

Russian School of Colorectal Surgery celebrated its tenth anniversary

Twelve operations in real time, more than 30 world-renowned lecturers, 18 CME points, the opening ceremony, the creativity of which the most successful homework assignments in the KVN club could envy, and the eternal dispute between the surgeons of the East and the West. All this is the XII International Conference "Russian School of Colorectal Surgery", which took place on June 7-9 in Moscow.

Photo: Irina Reznik /

More than 1,500 surgeons, coloproctologists, oncologists, gastroenterologists and doctors of other specialties from 23 countries took part in the scientific forum organized by the Russian Society of Colorectal Surgeons (ROCS) with the support of Sechenov University. For the conference participants, live broadcasts of operations, intensive courses of lectures "beyond the basic knowledge" and master classes from world leaders in surgery, morphology, diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer were organized.

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Today the RShKH is the largest event for coloproctologists in the post-Soviet space. And the project began, which gave Russian doctors the opportunity to directly adopt the best world experience, with a small conference in a hall for 200 people. “Then we thought that it would be just a conference for a narrow circle,” said the chairman of the ROCCH, director of the Clinic of Coloproctology and Minimally Invasive Surgery at Sechenov University, Professor of FASCRS (Hon) Petr Tsarkov. - We invited the founder of the modern method of surgical treatment of rectal cancer Bill Hild. And he came, although for this he had to overcome administrative obstacles associated with interstate problems."

More than two thousand people gathered to watch the operation performed by the legend of colorectal oncosurgery (video recordings of ideal operations did not yet exist). And this moment became the birth of the RSHKH project.

The master also came to this anniversary conference. “This is a great school and practice for coloproctologists from all over the world. Colorectal cancer is a very good model to demonstrate how a patient can be completely cured by surgery. And if you train specialists correctly, as the Russian School of Colorectal Surgery does, then, thanks to surgery, it will be possible to achieve a cure for two-thirds of patients,”Bill Heald said in an interview with Mednovosti.

Over the ten years of the School's existence, thousands of practical doctors have been able to learn and adopt the most effective advanced ideas in coloproctology. And most of all, at these conferences, specialists are interested in surgical activity and new approaches to treatment. “The Russian Society of Colorectal Surgeons is among the organizations entitled to award educational points for participation in its events. But even when the ball system of retraining did not yet exist, there was always a full house at the events of the School, - says Peter Tsarkov. “And we are proud that many of the School's participants were able to improve their surgical technique and change the treatment protocols in their clinics.”

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Since last year, the School's program has included a TED-style session, during which eminent surgeons talk about their path in the profession, share their philosophy of life. And this year, for the first time at the conference, a session for operating nurses was held, at which they were taught the peculiarities of the operation of equipment in coloproctology, ways to deal with stress and work in a team. In addition to the extensive main program, the School hosted contests for poster presentations and scientific papers in Russian and English.

And all the days of the conference, the discussion of the intricacies of various treatment protocols, polemics on the most controversial issues today did not stop. Thus, the positions of different schools remain different on the issue of lymphadenectomy in rectal cancer, when the size and spread of the tumor require extended removal of the lateral (located on the side of the organ) lymph nodes. But if in the West they are trying to minimize the number of heavy operations, trying to solve many problems with chemoradiation therapy, then in the East they decided not to abandon lymphadenectomy, and to reduce functional complications they began to develop neurosaving surgery for rectal cancer.

But oncology is the most unexplored area of medicine, treatment strategies are being revised more often than anywhere else, and the search for truth occurs in constant discussions and exchange of experience. And one of the master classes of the last School was devoted to training surgeons in one of the techniques proposed by the Japanese. For the first time in Europe, a unique technique for performing lateral lymph node dissection in rectal cancer was demonstrated in real time … And each conference participant received a translation of the Japanese Society for Colorectal Cancer Treatment Guidelines. According to Petr Tsarkov, today it can already be argued that this technically difficult stage of the operation can reduce the frequency of local recurrences. And having understood how effective this specific technique is in our population, in the future it will be possible to introduce the Eastern technique into Russian and Western treatment standards.

According to Peter Tsarkov, the School would not have taken place if its participants did not need it - thousands of people inspired by the profession, willing to grow and work: “Each participant of the school is a worthy example of striving for the heights of mastery. People see new horizons of our profession and how the approach to it is changing in our country."