Dr Massarat Zutshi has been a Colorectal Staff surgeon since April 2005. She has an adjunct appointment in Biomedical Engineering in the Lerner Research Center. She was trained in General Surgery in Mumbai, India and continued to practice in Bangalore, India till she relocated to the USA in 2000. Her research interest is fecal incontinence. She has focused her clinical research on clinical trials featuring traditional aspects of fecal incontinence and anorectal conditions. These are focused on improving the functional outcome of current therapies.

The Pelvic Floor Center which she is a part of conducts its lectures, case presentations and Journal Club, which incorporates urologists, urogynecologists, and colorectal surgeons. She also works with the researchers in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine.

Dr. Zutshi also has a laboratory which is currently focused on the role of stem cells in improving anal sphincter function. To achieve this, she has developed an animal model of fecal incontinence and have a preliminary study looking at mesenchymal stem cell engraftment after anal sphincter injury.

Cleveland Clinic
Department of Colorectal Surgery

Our colorectal surgeons perform more than 5,000 surgical procedures annually, including an average of 500 laparoscopic intestinal resections, 260 operations to treat Crohn’s disease, and 170 ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA) surgeries.

DDI colorectal surgeons performed the world’s first total proctocolectomy and ileoanal pouch procedure with a single-incision.

The Digestive Disease Institute performs the world's highest volume of J-pouch procedures and is the nation's largest referral center for repairing pelvic pouches.

Our surgeons use the latest in diagnostic and treatment options, including transanal endoscopic microsurgery and intraoperative radiotherapy.

DDI colorectal surgeons utilize various surgical methods to avoid a permanent colostomy in the treatment of rectal cancer. These options include:

• Transanal excision
• Radical excision of the rectum with anastomosis of the colon to the anus
• Colonic J pouch
• Coloplasty

DDI houses the largest institutional registries for inherited colon cancer-- David G. Jagelman Inherited Colorectal Cancer Registries- in the United States and the second largest in the world.

Cleveland Clinic was the birthplace of Enterostomal Therapy/Wound Ostomy, Continence Nursing nearly 50 years ago. DDI's Wound Ostomy Continence Nursing School was the first of its kind in the world.

 Quality of Life in Patients That Undergo J Pouch or Side to End Coloanal Anastomosis for Rectal Cancer

The side to end anastomosis has become popular in recent years as it is technically simple to construct. The difference between the Baker type(side to end) of anastomosis and the J pouch, is that no formal pouch is constructed in the side to end. It has one staple line and the anastomosis.

The investigators hypothesis is that the patients who receive a side to end anastomosis have bowel outcome and quality of life that is equivalent to those who receive a J pouch.

Estimated Enrollment: 400
Study Start Date: March 2009
Estimated Study Completion Date: December 2013
Estimated Primary Completion Date: December 2013 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)