The surgical removal of half, or a major portion, of the colon.
(See also colectomy.)
An operation to remove the right or left half of the COLON, usually with end-to-end ANASTOMOSIS of the remaining portion of the intestine. This is often used for the treatment of malignant or in?ammatory diseases of the colon.
n. surgical removal of sections of the large bowel (*colon), either the ascending colon (right hemicolectomy) or the descending colon (left hemicolectomy). An extended hemicolectomy involves the additional excision of a section of the transverse colon. Such operations are performed in cases of inflammation (e.g. *Crohn’s disease) or cancer. The cut ends of the remaining bowel are joined together in a primary *anastomosis.