St. Mark's Hospital Foundation- A Future Free From the Fear of Bowel Disease

St. Mark's Hospital Foundation- A Future Free From the Fear of Bowel Disease

St. Mark's Hospital Foundation is delighted to present the new video 'a future free from the fear of bowel disease' St. Mark's Hospital is widely recognised as a world centre of excellence in the fight against colorectal cancer, otherwise known as bowel cancer, as well as leading the world in research into inflammatory bowel disease, otherwise known as Crohn's disease and Ulcerative Colitis.

This film provides a real insight into the cutting edge research to beat bowel cancer and one day develop an effective treatment for Crohn's disease and Ulcerative Colitis, to totally manage these painful and debilitating diseases and provide the most advanced treatments.

In the video you will hear from Professor Robin Phillips, Clinical Director of the Hospital, about research to alleviate the pain and suffering of Fistulae. Professor Phillips will also introduce and explain the USP of St.Mark's, which is the unique culture whereby for many decades one generation of world leading surgeons, doctors and nurses have passed their skills, knowledge and expertise to the next generation of Research fellows, who through the training they receive at St.Mark's are destined to be the future world leading surgeons, doctors and nurses. Miss Nuha Yassin, a rising star of St. Mark's explains what it means to have a mentor such as Professor Robin Phillips encouraging
her to be the best she can be, and fully supporting her to achieve it.

You will then hear from Professor Sue Clark, Director of the Polyposis registry, about the vital work St. Mark's is carrying out in the area of Cancer and Inherited Cancer. Genetics plays a key role in finding the key to unlock a cure for cancer and as the oldest registry of families with cancer, Professor Clark and her team are leading the way in the fight to unlock a cure.

Dr Ailsa Hart and her team in the IBD Department explain how through innovative research including research into the efficacy of Vitamin D and research into targeting medical therapies in Crohn's disease, they are working to remove the fear of Crohn's disease, and create effective treatments that will totally manage the symptoms and unlock the cause of Crohn's disease.

Dr Simon Gabe, Head of the Intestinal Rehabilitation Department at St.Mark's and Dr Tahera Ansari, Senior Clinical Research Fellow who leads a team of researchers at Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research explain their research into tissue issue engineering the worlds first functional intestinal tissue, leading to the world's first tissue engineered replacement bowel, which will be grown from the patient's own stem cells thus avoiding organ rejection and a lifetime on immunosuppressant drugs. This work has potential benefit for patients with Crohn's disease who have lost a large part of their bowel and can no longer absorb nutrition through eating and are on Total Parental Nutrition (TPN) to obtain their nourishment.

Professor Brian Saunders, Director of The Wolfson Institute for Endoscopy, one of only 14 accredited world centres of excellence for Endoscopy, which also houses the Kennedy Leigh Academic Centre for Training in Endoscopy, explains the exciting research that is being undertaken to develop the Colonoscopic Surgical Unit (CSU) to provide minimally invasive surgery for patients with small growths in their bowel, called polyps. With the advent of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Programme, many more people are being identified with polyps. If caught early they can be removed as day care surgery, but if left to grow they can develop into cancerous bowel tumours which at a later stage of development are much harder to remove, and lead to loss of large part's of healthy bowel in order to fully excise these silent killers. The CSU, is developing minimally invasive surgical procedures, new surgical equipment and innovative ways of personalising the treatment pathway for patients with polyps and early stage cancer, to be able to meet the very large demand that exists for day care surgery with virtually no recovery time.

You will also hear from Mr Peter Dale and Mr Justin Hansen, the Gutless Kayaker, who paddled 420 miles from South Yorkshire to Bristol to raise funds for FLEX, and in doing created a world record for someone on Total Parental Nutrition.