Quality and Patient Safety

Quality and patient safety in colorectal and urogenital care

Our mission at the International Center for Colorectal and Urogenital Care (ICCUC) is simple: to improve colorectal care everywhere for everyone. The work that perpetually propels this mission is anything but simple. Collectively, our highly specialized surgeons have the most experience in the world treating complex colorectal and urogenital cases. We also have the largest and longest running database of patients with these conditions that goes back to 1980. Since then, we have performed over 4,100 surgical repairs of colorectal and urogenital conditions.

According to former ICCUC Director, Alberto Peña, MD, “Having the largest database in the world offers a treasure and allows us to predict the functional prognosis of patients early in life as well as identify patients at risk.”

This expertise and experience, as well as our partnership with the University of Colorado Hospital, allows us to offer what our patients and their families need most: a program that can seamlessly support them through a lifetime of treatment.

Why does transparency matter?

The surgical treatments for colorectal and urogenital conditions have impacts that last a lifetime for patients. These surgeries can have a range of outcomes and it takes the most experienced and skilled surgeons to reach the most optimal outcomes. A small difference in technique can translate to more surgeries (reoperations) or thousands of hours of discomfort and pain.

Our surgeons have seen the difference in patients that have come from other hospitals and for them, it is not simply enough to complete the surgery, it needs to be the best treatment possible. In fact, some of our surgeons have even invented surgical techniques, such as the PSARP surgery, or modernized procedures like the rectal prolapse technique when they saw that the old methods could be improved.

The number of procedures, referred to here as volumes, is an important metric in medicine. This data shows that our surgeons have spent thousands of hours in the operating room performing these very specialized procedures. This not only speaks to their unparalleled experience, but to the dedication and passion they have for their work.

Inpatient and outpatient volumes

Our ICCUC team has performed more than 4,100 procedures to treat a variety of colorectal and urogenital conditions.

Pull-through procedures performed by ICCUC team from 1980 to 2023, categorized by diagnosis

Total pull-through procedures at Children’s Colorado over the last 8 years

Bowel management for fecal incontinence and intractable constipation

Our six-day, outpatient bowel management workshop helps improve quality of life for children by teaching them techniques to clean out their colon at regular intervals to help prevent stool accidents.

Bowel management may include the use of enemas or laxatives, and when indicated, diet manipulation and medicines to slow down colon function. This workshop can be helpful for children who have experienced the following:

• Surgery to repair an anorectal malformation
• A pull-through procedure for Hirschsprung
• Diagnosis of the congenital condition myelomeningocele
• Surgery to remove a large sacrococcygeal teratoma
• Constipation with no identified cause

Our bowel management workshop has led to some great outcomes, including a 95% success rate for children with fecal incontinence. We also guarantee bowel control if the primary operation is done at Children's Colorado.

* These numbers are collective of our entire ICCUC team across their lifetime of work (as of September 2023).