Applications of taTME and Transanal Surgery in the Current Era

Dr. Antonio Caycedo-Marulanda is the Chief of Colorectal Surgery at Orlando Health in Orlando, Florida, where he also serves as the institution’s Medical Director for the National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer (NAPRC). In this role, he leads the development, implementation, and oversight of standardized rectal cancer care pathways across the health system. He is also an Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Central Florida, with ongoing academic and research affiliations in Canada as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Surgery at Queen’s University and Associate Clinical Researcher at the Health Sciences North Research Institute (HSNRI). 

Originally from Colombia, Dr. Caycedo earned his medical degree from Universidad El Bosque and completed his general surgery residency at Javeriana University in Bogotá. He relocated to Canada in 2004, retrained in general surgery at the University of Ottawa, and subsequently completed a colorectal surgery fellowship at Western University in London, Ontario. He later earned a Master’s in Clinical Research from the University of Liverpool (UK) and is a graduate of the 2023–2024 Surgical Leadership Program at Harvard Medical School Postgraduate Medical Education. 

He began his Canadian career by founding the colorectal surgery program at Health Sciences North (HSN) in Northern Ontario. There, he became the first surgeon in Canada to introduce transanal minimally invasive surgery (TAMIS) and also pioneered transanal total mesorectal excision (taTME) in the country. He led the implementation of the institution’s first Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocol. After nearly a decade at HSN, he joined Kingston Health Sciences Centre and Queen’s University, contributing to one of Canada’s highest-volume robotic colorectal surgery programs. 

Dr. Caycedo is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada, the Canadian Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, the American College of Surgeons, and the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS). He serves on the New Technologies Committees of both SAGES and ASCRS, and previously held the role of Regional Surgical Oncology Lead for Cancer Care Ontario. He is also an examiner for the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada. 

A strong advocate of clinical innovation and international collaboration, he contributed to the global consensus on the safe implementation of taTME, founded the Canadian taTME Expert Collaboration (CaTaCO), and has participated in the COLOR III trial and the international taTME registry. He also co-authored the Pan-Canadian Rectal Cancer Guidelines. 

Dr. Caycedo has authored over 75 peer-reviewed publications, contributed to five book chapters, and serves on the editorial board of several surgical journals. He lectures nationally and internationally, with clinical and academic interests in rectal cancer surgery, advanced minimally invasive and robotic techniques, and environmentally sustainable surgical practices.