No abstract

The quality of online patient information regarding colorectal cancer treatment is highly variable, often incomplete, and does not adequately convey the information necessary for patients to make well-informed medical decisions regarding treatment for colorectal cancer. An opportunity exists for professional medical societies to create more comprehensive online patient information materials that may serve as a resource to physicians and their patients (see Video, Supplemental Digital Content 1, http://links.lww.com/DCR/A122).

Intestinal stomas significantly impact patients' quality of life. Stoma-related complications are common, but even without complications, patients are faced with new challenges in stoma management and daily activities. Preoperative patient education and stoma site marking, in conjunction with conscientious surgical stewardship, are key to patient satisfaction and successful operative outcomes.

Objective To describe the components of targeted nanotherapeutics and to review their applications in the treatment of surgical diseases. Background Targeted nanotherapeutics is a novel strategy for treating a variety of diseases and is an emerging technology that offers advantages over current treatment strategies. The nanoscale size, combined with the ability to surface functionalize the delivery vehicle to enable targeting and incorporate a therapeutic payload, provide a new and innovative therapeutic platform to treat surgical diseases that has yet to be fully realized in the surgical arena. Methods A comprehensive literature review of nanotherapeutics, targeting strategies, and their utility in treating surgical diseases is performed. Results Targeted nanotherapeutics have demonstrated safety and biocompatibility in treating surgical diseases. The ability to surface functionalize the nanoparticles affords a unique tailorability that enables targeting specificity and therapeutic payload delivery to treat a variety of surgical diseases. Moreover, the small size and targeting capabilities allow access to biological compartments, such as the blood-brain-barrier, that have previously been difficult to treat. Conclusions Targeted nanotherapeutics represents a novel therapeutic platform and has great potential to impact the treatment of surgical diseases.

The location of common pelvic landmarks is highly variable. The use of predefined absolute measurements from the anal verge to localize rectal pathology is inaccurate and fails to account for patient variability.