Middle East Experience With Transanal Endoscopic Microsurgery (TEM)

background: transanal endoscopyic microsurgery (tem) has been a new method of micro invasive surgery for management of special conditions. big deal of this procedure is avoiding of open abdominal surgeries or better exposure in transanal approches. objectives: the purpose of this study was to present a single institutional experience in shiraz, iran regarding the application of transanal endoscopic microsurgery (tem). to our knowledge this is the first report from the middle east. patients and methods: between 2009 and 2012, thirty patients underwent tem in our center. we assessed complications and recurrence rate. patients with fewer than six months of follow-up were excluded. results: patients included 17 men and 13 women with the mean age of 44.4 years (ranged 17-80). the mean tumor distance from the anal verge was 9.8 cm. one patient with adenomatous polyp experienced recurrence 14 months postoperatively. regarding procedure-related complications, one case developed hemorrhage and another one fever and infection in the site of operation. two patients experienced incontinence for about 3 weeks after tem surgery. conclusions: considering the cultural and religious context of the middle east, we recommend tem procedure in specialized centers in this part of the world.