Demonstration of accurate measurement of the depth of extramural tumor spread in the MERCURY Study enabled accurate preoperative prognostication.

The formation of The Pelican Cancer Foundation in 2000 was based around the pioneering work of Professor Bill Heald and colleagues, and the development of Total Mesorectal Excision (TME) for rectal cancer. A series of surgical workshops in Scandinavia in the mid 1990s and, later, six further workshops in the Trent region culminated in the commissioning of the fully multidisciplinary National MDT-TME Development Programme by the National Cancer Director, Professor Mike Richards, in March 2003.