Colorectal surgery is a highly specialized area of medicine. In the United States, only a small number of surgeons focus only on treating colorectal diseases.

At the Cleveland Clinic, patients have access to one of the nation’s leading colorectal programs. The doctors there focus on colorectal surgery and research. Many of them specialize even further in treating conditions such as rectal cancer and other complex colorectal diseases.

Their expertise—along with a team of specialists who work together—helps patients receive the care they need, especially when the condition is complex.

In the video below, Dr. Michael Valente explains why specialized expertise matters and how Cleveland Clinic cares for patients facing colorectal cancer.

Video Transcript

Dr. Michael A. Valente: “Colorectal surgery is a specialty of general surgery, and there’s not too many of us. There’s about 2,000 of us in the United States of America who subspecialize just in diseases of the colon, rectum, and anus. So the vast majority of surgical care are performed by well-trained general surgeons who don’t have extra training in colorectal.

So one of the main reasons to come to a place like the Cleveland Clinic is specialized care. This is a group of 23 to 25 individuals who all they do is colorectal operations and research. And then within our department of those 25 people, we have subspecialties, you know, super specializations. So for me, for instance, all I do is rectal cancer, colon cancer care. The vast majority of what I do is colorectal cancer care or advanced cancers.

And that’s the majority of what I do. So to have someone who specializes in a very specific disease or surgical technique is what we offer here. Many people throughout the country have their operations performed locally, but we would say if things are getting a little bit more complicated, or if you want a second opinion even to make sure, this is definitely the place to be.

I think when you practice the same thing over and over again, you get really good at it, and the outcomes get better. So, you know, things like rectal cancer, it’s a very specialized operation, and it requires extensive multidisciplinary teamwork. So it’s not just the surgeons; it’s the medical oncologist, the radiation oncologist, the pathologist, the radiologist, the nursing team. And we have all those things here, you know, routine. So something like rectal cancer for us is a routine occurrence. And we like to say you have one shot to make that operation or that treatment perfect, and we’d like to pride ourselves on being as perfect as we can be here.”