Transanal total mesorectal excision (TaTME) has garnered a great surgery because it represents a reversal of perspective—literally— about how best to excise tumors and the surrounding mesorectal envelope in the lower third of the rectum. Unlike traditional TME, which involves introduction of a laparoscopic camera and specialized laparoscopic tools through small slits in the abdomen to excise these tumors from above, TaTME reverses the process and introduces these tools via a multichannel port in the anus so that the tumor can be visualized and removed from below.

More at Progressnotes, MUSC’s Medical Magazine