“ALPACA” is an acronym of the offical study title: “Anastomotic Leak Prediction After Colorectal Anastomosis”.

Like most clinical studies, we use an acronym that is easies to remember than the complicated medical title.

And who doesn’t like alpacas?

Colorectal anastomosis is the creation of a new join between the remaining parts of the gut, after removing the part of the gut that carries the disease, for example in patients with cancer or with inflammatory bowel syndrome (IBD).

Joining the bowel back together (the so-called anastomosis) after surgery carries a risk of a leak - rather like joining two pipes together in the kitchen and turning the water back on.

When this happens, bowel contents escape into the abdomen, making the patient very unwell and requiring emergency surgery to take down the join and create a stoma bag on the patient's tummy.

This leads to a longer and more difficult recovery from the surgery, and may also delay additional cancer treatment.