E119 Patricia Sylla on taTME, surgical innovation, and SAGES presidency

Cold Steel: Canadian Journal of Surgery Podcast

Dr. Pat Sylla (https://twitter.com/patsyllamd?s=20&t=_w5QG96wjQE-0ttVJJaUmw) is a minimally invasive and colorectal surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. She is a world famous innovator and was the first surgeon in the world to perform a transanal total mesorectal excision for rectal cancer. We caught up with her in-person (!) at the recent Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) annual meeting. Shout out to SAGES for putting on a great conference!

Links:

1. Pat Sylla talk on Truths, Half-Truths, Fake News about taTME https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahWOaKa5WeQ

2. Sylla P, Rattner DW, Delgado S et al. NOTES transanal rectal cancer resection using transanal endoscopic microsurgery and laparoscopic assistance. Surg Endosc 2010;24:1205–10. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20186432/

3. Urethral Injury and Other Urologic Injuries During Transanal Total Mesorectal Excision: An International Collaborative Study. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31567502/

4. Consensus on structured training curriculum for transanal total mesorectal excision (TaTME). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28462478/

5. SAGES 2022 Presidential Address with Dr. Liane Feldman: https://vimeo.com/showcase/9362041/video/689727749

6. SAGES 2022 Gerald Mark Lecture by KMarie King: https://vimeo.com/showcase/9362041/video/689071108

7. SAGES 2022 General Session on Worldwide Variation in TME. Dr. Sylla is one of the panelists: https://vimeo.com/showcase/9362041/video/689468095

Bio (from https://www.mountsinai.org/profiles/patricia-sylla)

Dr. Sylla has been a leader in developing minimally invasive approaches to the surgical treatment of colon and rectal cancer. She joins Mount Sinai from Massachusetts General Hospital, where she practiced for seven years within the Division of General and Gastrointestinal Surgery and was an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. While there, Dr. Sylla developed a research and clinical program using Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES). NOTES represents an innovative approach to transanal surgery, which may allow for faster recovery and fewer operative complications. In 2009, Dr. Sylla performed the first-ever rectal cancer surgery on a human using this approach. She has since extended this in a pilot study and is helping train surgeons in this technique. Dr. Sylla’s clinical interests include laparoscopic and robotic surgery for colon and rectal cancer, diverticulitis, rectal prolapse, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM), and treatment of benign anorectal disorders.
Dr. Sylla received a Bachelor of Science degree Cum Laude in Biology from Georgetown University. She earned a Doctor of Medicine from Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Sylla completed residency training in Surgery at Columbia University Medical Center. Subsequently, she completed two fellowship training programs; Colon & Rectal Surgery at The Mount Sinai Hospital and Minimally Invasive Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Furthermore, Dr. Sylla has is highly trained and experienced in treating rectal prolapse and performing transanal endoscopic surgery.