Stoma-related complications and stoma size - a 2-year follow up.

AIM: The purpose of the study was to prospectively describe stoma configuration and evaluate stoma-related complications and their association with possible risk factors. METHOD: All elective patients (n = 180) operated on with a formation of colostomy, ileostomy or loop-ileostomy between 2003 and 2005 were included in the study. Follow up took place on the ward postoperatively and five times during 2 years after discharge. On these occasions the diameter and height of the stoma were recorded. Complications such as peristomal skin problems, necrosis, leakage caused by a low stoma, stenosis, granuloma formation, prolapse and peristomal hernia formation were evaluated. RESULTS: Most complications occurred 2 weeks after discharge; 53% of patients with colostomies, 79% with loop-ileostomies and 70% of patients with end-ileostomy had one or more complications. The most common complication was skin problems and it was most common in patients with end-ileostomies (60%) and loop-ileostomies (73%). Postoperatively at ward review, the most common complication was necrosis, which occurred in 20% of patients with a colostomy. Granuloma formation was most frequent in colostomies. Almost all patients with an end-ileostomy and loop-ileostomy with a height lower than 20 mm had leakage and skin problems as had half of the patients with a colostomy height lower than 5 mm. CONCLUSION: To prevent stoma-related complications, it is important to produce an adequate height of the stoma, with early and regular follow ups and adjustment of the appliance. To work closely in collaboration with the colorectal surgeons is of utmost important to provide feedback and in turn, to improve stoma outcome.

Sexuality in patients with ulcerative colitis before and after restorative proctocolectomy: a prospective study.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to assess sexuality in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), before and one year after an ileal-pouch anal anastomosis (IPAA). METHODS: Group I comprised 14 medically treated patients (7 M) and Group II comprised 29 patients (18 M), operated with colectomy and ileostomy, with preservation of the rectum. Patients were interviewed about desire, excitement and general sexual satisfaction before and one year after the IPAA operation. RESULTS: Most of the patients had restarted sexual activity < or = 3 months after surgery. Sexual desire and desire for intercourse had not changed from before the IPAA operation. In Group I, one woman suffered from dyspareunia both before and after the IPAA. In Group II, three women had dyspareunia before the IPAA and four after surgery. Erection and ejaculation were normal in all men before the IPAA operation. After IPAA, one man in Group I and two men in Group II had loss of ejaculation. In Group 1, 10 out of 14 patients were satisfied with their sexual life both before and after the IPAA. In Group II the corresponding figures were 15 out of 28 before and 22 after IPAA surgery. CONCLUSIONS: A third of the patients stated that they were dissatisfied with their sexual life before IPAA. Although a few patients experienced sexual imperfections such as loss of ejaculation and dyspareunia, the majority of patients in both groups considered that the overall general satisfaction with their sexual life had normalized considerably after surgery.

Quality of life before and after proctocolectomy and IPAA in patients with ulcerative proctocolitis--a prospective study.

OBJECTIVE: The principal aim of the present investigation was to study the general QoL and disease-specific adjustment before, and one-year after, operation with an ileal pouch anal-anastomosis (IPAA) in a consecutive series of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). PATIENTS AND METHOD: Eleven patients were medically treated and 31 patients underwent colectomy with ileostomy. The patients were interviewed before the IPAA operation and again one-year after closure of the covering loop ileostomy. General quality of life was estimated with a Swedish instrument (according to Kajandi, score range 16-96) and a VA-scale. The instrument for disease-specific adjustment contained specific questions with five factors (score range 34-204). Open questions about quality of life were used to identify areas of concern, which were not included in the other instruments. Postoperative function was described in terms of a functional score (score range 0-15). RESULTS: The results of the general quality of life assessments did not differ significantly when comparing pre-operative to postoperative values. Disease-specific adjustment showed that the medically treated patients had a score of 162; interquartile range (IQR) 145-176. The patients with ileostomy scored 164; IQR 141-180. Postoperatively there was a statistically significant improvement in both groups to 189 (IQR 172-199), an increase of 15%. The open questions revealed restrictions in daily life for both patient groups pre-operatively with improvements after IPAA. The median grading of functional outcome according to the score system was 2. The most frequent problems were: patients who had occasional bowel movements at night, 40%; intermittent perianal soreness, 51%; antidiarrhoeal medication use, 61%. CONCLUSION: General QoL did not change after IPAA. The bowel-specific adjustment in most factors improved in the majority of patients after IPAA. However, half of the IPAA patients had occasional bowel movements at night perianal soreness, and used antidiarrhoeal medication.

Anorectal function after modern conformal radiation therapy for prostate cancer: a pilot study.

We evaluated whether, and if so to what extent, radiotherapy applied on a series of patients with prostate cancer influenced the patient's bowel habits and anorectal function. Ten consecutive patients participated in the study. The median age of the patients was 74 years (range, 61-71) and the average follow-up period was 22 (range, 15-28) months. Four patients were irradiated using external beam radiotherapy (2 Gy/day for a total of 70 Gy); 6 patients were irradiated with a combination of external beam radiotherapy (50 Gy, 2 Gy/day) and high dose rate brachytherapy (two 10-Gy fractions). Upon interview, patients disclosed characteristic functional disturbances such as urgency with occasional accidents, faecal soiling and spotting of underwear. Involuntary release of gas was another embarrassing problem. One or more of these problems were present in half of the patients. Endoscopy disclosed signs of mild proctitis. Sphincter pressure, rectal capacity and the volume threshold for appreciation of defecation urge were all significantly lower in patients than in 10 age-matched controls. In conclusion, disturbances of anorectal function with imperfection of incontinence still occur so some extent despite improved precision, and reduced margins offered by the modern conformal radiation therapy of prostate cancer. Anal sphincter function, the reservoir capacity of the rectum and its sensory function are adversely affected and radiation proctitis with rectal fibrosis and damage of the extrinsic innervations of the anal sphincters appear to be the principal causative factors. Although conformal radiotherapy together with better positioning may be two substantial improvements of modern radiotherapy, further improvements are needed.

Objective methods cannot predict anal incontinence after primary repair of extensive anal tears.

BACKGROUND: An increased awareness of anal incontinence after delivery tears has developed during the last years. The aim of this study was to compare complaints with the results of physiological methods in women with complete sphincter ruptures primarily repaired at delivery. METHODS: Twenty-seven women, 16 with total rupture of the external anal sphincter and 11 who also had a ruptured internal anal sphincter were studied. Interviews on pelvic floor function, investigation with recto-anal manometry, single fiber EMG and anal endosonography were performed at 11.9 (2.5) months after delivery. Fifteen women vaginally delivered without sphincter rupture served as controls. RESULTS: Pelvic floor dysfunction was admitted in 74%, in particular gas incontinence (59%). Maximum squeeze pressure was significantly reduced (p<0.01) compared to controls, while resting anal pressure was unaffected. Fiber density was increased in 81% of patients and 91% had detectable defects on endosonography. Neither the degree of rupture nor the presence of complaints significantly correlated to the objective methods. CONCLUSIONS: A majority of women with primarily repaired anal sphincter ruptures at delivery were incontinent. Sphincter defects and signs of neuropathy could not precisely predict symptoms.

Does simple hysterectomy alter bowel function?

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Hysterectomy is believed to be associated with disturbed defecation, mainly constipation. This study longitudinally describes bowel function in women submitted for hysterectomy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Rectoanal manovolumetry, whole gut transit time and detailed interviews on bowel function and dyspareunia were performed preoperatively and at 3 and 11-18 months after hysterectomy in 42 women. Twenty healthy women matched for age and parity served as manovolumetry controls. RESULTS: No significant changes in anal sphincter pressures could be demonstrated, neither early nor late after hysterectomy. Transit time was unaffected. All but one of the patients claimed that they had been suffering from one or more of the following symptoms; abdominal pain, distension, constipation and dysparenuia. While postoperative interviews revealed a significant improvement with respect to abdominal pain and dyspareunia (P < 0.01) after 3 and 11-18 months, improvement of abdominal distension and constipation proved to be transient only. CONCLUSION: Simple abdominal hysterectomy appears not to interfere adversely with bowel function. On the contrary many patients were relieved from abdominal pain present before operation.

Postoperative pain. Does subcutaneous lidocaine spray relieve it? Can pain be predicted?

Postoperative pain is often a big problem after gastrointestinal surgery. The aim of the present investigation was two-fold; To see whether supplying of lidocaine spray in the surgical wound influences postoperative pain and to evaluate the role of patients and caring factors on the perception of postoperative pain. Sixty consecutive patients undergoing major abdominal surgery were randomized into a control or a treatment group. Pain relief, apart from lidocaine, was given according to routine. The methods included interviews, pain registration, on a visual analogue scale and registration of administered analgesics. No effect could be attributed to lidocaine. Nurses' ability to predict pain was unreliable, patients predicted pain better. Younger patients suffered greater pain than elderly. Preoperative anxiety correlated to postoperative pain, whereas malignant diagnoses did not. Most of the studied patients had considerable postoperative pain. Routines for postoperative pain relief should be improved.

Gynaecological and sexual function related to anatomical changes in the female pelvis after restorative proctocolectomy.

Restorative proctocolectomy with an ileal pouch-anal anastomosis preserves anal sphincters, the normal route of defaecation and the normal body image and it has been suggested that the procedure might be associated with less gynaecological and sexual problems than conventional proctocolectomy. To shed further light on this subject 60 female patients were invited to participate in a study comprising a detailed interview, examination by a gynaecologist and investigation with hysterosalpingography and vaginography. Twenty-one women with a mean follow-up of 38 months after surgery agreed to participate. Their gynaecological state was considered normal although one woman complained of vaginal discharge. Five women experienced occasional dyspareunia and 2 patients had to take special precautions to avoid bowel leaks at intercourse. While the position of the vagina and uterus in the pelvis appeared normal, hysterosalpingography disclosed bilateral occlusion of the fallopian tubes in 2 and unilateral occlusion in another 9 patients with tubes adhering to the bottom of the lesser pelvis in 10 of the patients. Only one out of 14 patients succeeded in trying to conceive during the follow-up period. Among the remaining 39 women not specially studied 5 out of 14 had conceived after the operation.

Evaluation of a Swedish version of the Ostomy Adjustment Scale.

The main aim of the present study was to adapt an instrument measuring patients' adjustment to life with an ostomy to Swedish conditions and to test reliability and validity of the adapted instrument. The Ostomy Adjustment Scale (OAS), which is focused on three domains: physical function, psychologic state, and social interaction, was selected as suitable. After translation into Swedish, equivalence and internal consistency of the scale were calculated. Subjects with various types of urine or faeces diversions were recruited for self-rating with the OAS and a visual analogue scale estimating total quality of life (QOL). The instruments were tested in 48 patients with five different diagnoses, 36 with and 12 without ostomy, and re-tests were carried out in 25 of the patients. Reliability (Cronbach's alpha) was 0.95. A positive correlation was found between the OAS and QOL (r = 0.67), indicating that the instrument has some validity.

Smoking and sister chromatid exchange.

Smokers were shown to have significantly higher SCE levels in peripheral lymphocytes than non-smokers. The increase of SCE was found to depend on the cigarette consumption, and to be significantly higher in subjects with a long than with a short history of smoking. Analysis of the frequency distribution of individual SCE levels and of SCE numbers in single cells gave no indication of subgroups of individuals of subpopulations of lymphocytes with an increased SCE response to smoking. Cells from smokers cultivated in plasma from non-smokers retained a high SCE level, and cells from non-smokers cultivated in plasma from smokers no increase of SCE, indicating that the increase of SCE caused by smoking is due to some type of (long-lived) cellular damage rather than to serum factors. The plasma levels of the primary nicotine metabolite cotinine were found to be increased in heavy smokers as compared to light smokers, and showed an excellent correlation with the cotinine levels in the amniotic fluid in pregnant female smokers. No correlation was found between the individual SCE and cotinine levels in smokers, which indicates that the degree of exposure to SCE-inducing genotoxic agents in the cigarette smoke is not related to plasma cotinine levels in any simple way. The induction of DNA strand breaks and SCE by two intermediary benzo(a)pyrene (BP) metabolites was studied in human lymphocytes in vitro. Both 9-OH-BP and BP-7,8-dihydrodiol were found to induce DNA breaks, but only the latter compound induced SCE. The SCE-inducing effect of BP-7,8-dihydrodiol was observed at a very low concentration (0.01 microM), which indicates a possible role for this BP derivative in the smoking-induced increase of SCE in vivo.