Barcelona’s Hospital Clinic became the first hospital in Spain to employ the revolutionary technology ‘NOTES’ to treat a 76 year old woman suffering from dangerous rectal cancer.

The patient was treated with the NOTES approach for rectal cancer surgery using the principle of ‘minimally invasive surgery using the body’s natural orifices’. The new technique consists of removing the tumor via the anus. The patient was discharged after only 5 days of the surgery.

Antonio María de Lacy, who is the chief of gastrointestinal surgery of the hospital in which the surgery was performed, said that this method results in fewer post operative complications and is also less painful for the patient. Also, there are no post operative scars and recovery is faster as compared to conventional techniques.

Such a surgery has earlier been performed successfully only at the Massachusetts General Hospital in the United States.