Antonio M. De Lacy Fortuny MD, PhD, FASCRS (Hon)

Professor Antonio M. Lacy is the Head of the Gastrointestinal Surgery Department and Co-Coordinator of the Unit of Colorectal Cancer at the Hospital Clínic in Barcelona. He is a Professor of Surgery at the School of Medicine of the University of Barcelona and the Founder of AIS Channel, a new approach to the communication of advances in cutting-edge surgical expertise, provided by renowned surgeons. Professor Lacy and his team are global pioneers in the use of innovative minimal invasive technology in gastrointestinal cancer and metabolic syndrome and morbid obesity. He published in 2002 the first randomized study to prove the safety and feasibility of the laparoscopic approach vs the open approach for the treatment of digestive cancer, with excellent oncologic results.

Professor Lacy’s team were also the first to perform a Total Mesorectal Excision (TME) by Transanal Approach on a patient in 2009, and have since improved the technique by using 3D imaging. Professor Richard J. Heald, the creator of the TME, the gold standard treatment in rectal cancer, supports this new approach as providing better oncologic outcomes than the conventional approach. His main areas of interest are currently Transanal ColoRectal Endoscopic Surgery (TACRES) (taTME, Transanal Proctectomy in IBD & Transanal Approach in Hartmann’s Reversal) and the robotic approach to colorectal and esophageal pathologies.