Anglia Ruskin University will next week host the 6th International Congress of Laparoscopic Colorectal Surgery at its new Postgraduate Medical Institute (PMI) in Chelmsford.

The event has been organised by The International Society of Laparoscopic Colorectal Surgery whose President this year is Professor Roger Motson, a consultant at Colchester General Hospital since 1984 and a pioneer of laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery in the UK.

Anglia Ruskin and the Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust are the partners in The ICENI Centre, a £2m state-of-the-art training and research and development centre for laparoscopic surgery at Colchester General Hospital that was opened in March this year by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.

On Monday (5 September) The ICENI Centre will host two postgraduate courses at which experts from the US, Belgium, Germany, Italy and France, as well as the UK, will teach.

In addition, operations carried out at Colchester General Hospital by two internationally-renowned US surgeons, Conor Delaney from Ohio and Jeffrey Milsom from New York, will be broadcast live to delegates at Anglia Ruskin in Chelmsford.

The four-day congress will be the first outside of the renowned Cleveland Clinic in Florida and is the only meeting in the world devoted solely to laparoscopic colorectal surgery.

Professor Motson, who will officially open it, was made a Professor of Surgery by Anglia Ruskin in 2001 in recognition of his national and international reputation in laparoscopic surgery.

Laparoscopic surgery offers many advantages over traditional "open" surgery. It involves small incisions rather than large cuts so there is less post-operative wound pain, bleeding, and risk of infection. Patients spend less time in hospital and are able to return to normal activities sooner.

The PMI is based in a purpose-built state-of-the-art building on Anglia Ruskin's Rivermead Campus in Chelmsford. It is a partnership of 22 members involving all the NHS acute hospitals, primary care trusts and mental health trusts in Essex, plus Essex County Council, Ramsay and Nuffield hospitals.