SALT LAKE CITY—Surgeons now have a new innovative tool using 3D modeling that helps guide them during robotic rectal cancer surgery, making the procedure more accurate and effective for cancer patients. Intermountain Health is now just one of two health systems in the nation – and the only one in Utah – approved to use this new technology called Iris.

Iris takes preoperative MRI images and converts them into a 3D model of the anatomy and location of the tumor in relation to other organs and structures, according to Intermountain.

“It’s pretty cool,” said Tae Kim, MD, a colorectal surgeon at Intermountain LDS Hospital in Salt Lake. “It’s a difficult procedure. The benefit of this technology is like having a 3D map before you go into a maze. You will know when and where you can be fast and efficient, as well as when and where you have to go slow and deliberate to make sure you get all the cancer."

Kim said he had been working with a urologist who had a 3D model of the kidney. “It showed the tumor and the rest of the kidney. The 3D modeling helped preserve the kidney. It took my breath away. I thought we could build a protocol of how this could translate an MRI to 3D modeling for colorectal cancer surgery.”

The model is a great way for patients to understand the procedure as well, he said. “A lot of patients just want me to remove the cancer. When I show them where the cancer is and what is involved it’s a no brainer for them to have the surgery. They tend not to understand with just a cartoon drawing.”

After the patient receives an MRI it is uploaded to Intuitive and engineers create a model and send it back, said Kim. 

Tom Evans, a 50-year-old school teacher, was one of Kim’s patients that benefited from the new technology.

Evans was facing a recurrence of stage three colon cancer that had been diagnosed in 2022. After undergoing chemotherapy and radiation Evans was told he would need surgery to remove the tumor. 

During the five hour surgery Kim sat at a computer console and manipulated robotic arms while viewing the 3D images. After the surgery, Kim showed Evans how close the cancer was to his bladder and how the technology assisted him in knowing how to avoid damaging it.

“The timing of it was amazing,” said Kim. “He had colon cancer that involved other structures. I wanted to use it (technology) in this case but needed approval.”

Kim got approval just three days before the surgery. “I didn’t tell him about it because I wasn’t sure when we’d get it (approval),” he said. “I was telling him the story and he said he had had a dream about his father who had passed away. He told him to delay the surgery for as long as possible. We had given him two dates and he picked the later one.”

 “About a month later after my procedure, Dr. Kim let me know I was the first person in the world to receive this groundbreaking technology,” said Evans. “I was taken aback, awestruck, and humbled to have the benefits of this procedure, which did make a difference.”

Evans said he is fortunate that this technology was available. “I’m very grateful and I'm sure the 500th person will be grateful too to have a better quality of life.”

After his experience Evans urges others to be screened for colon cancer, which is often undetectable and considered a silent killer. 

"Make sure you get checked, see your doctor, and get your colonoscopies.”