Prognosis for Proctology

Excerpt

Proctology is the foundation—the fundament, if you will—of colon and rectal surgery. However, in America at least, we colon and rectal surgeons leave the anus out of our chosen title. The word proctology is absent from our societies, our letterheads, and our public self-identification. In our professional history, the momentous change from proctologist to colon and rectal surgeon signaled lengthened training, emphasis on surgical over medical care, and an ‘onward and upward’ orientation. Today the self-identified proctologist persists only in cartoons and greeting cards, on television sitcoms, and in one proud but minuscule corner of osteopathic medicine. …