Morbidity related to diverting ileostomy after restorative proctocolectomy in patients with ulcerative colitis.

AimRestorative proctocolectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis is considered by many surgeons to be the standard procedure for surgical management of ulcerative colitis. There is controversy about whether or not a covering ileostomy should be constructed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes and morbidity for patients with ulcerative colitis who underwent restorative proctocolectomy with or without a diverting ileostomy. MethodThis is a retrospective study of a consecutive series of 510 patients with ulcerative colitis who were operated on in Helsinki University Hospital between January 2005 and June 2016. A diverting ileostomy was performed in 119 patients (the stoma group) compared with 391 patients with no stoma. ResultsDehydration and intestinal obstruction occurred more often in the stoma group (P<0.0001). Clinical anastomotic leakage was more common among patients without an ileostomy (6.6% vs 1.7%, P=0.04). However, the need for re-laparotomy because of any early complication did not differ between the groups (P=0.58). Within 3 months, 50 patients with ileostomy (42.0%) and 51 patients without (13.0%) were readmitted (P<0.0001). In total, 35 patients (29.3%) had a complication relating to ileostomy closure and four of them required surgery. There was no difference in the rate of fistulas, pouchitis or pouch failure between the groups. ConclusionOur study shows that a diverting ileostomy is associated with considerable morbidity but it does not seem to prevent later failure of the pouch. We suggest that a diverting ileostomy should only be constructed for high-risk patients.