One-stage restorative proctocolectomy without temporary defunctioning ileostomy.

A temporary ileostomy has been employed routinely by most medical centers to defunction the ileal reservoir after restorative proctocolectomy. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical outcome in patients who underwent restorative proctocolectomy with and without the use of a temporary, defunctioning ileostomy. A consecutive series of 58 patients was studied. Each patient underwent restorative proctocolectomy with quadruplicated ileal reservoir and stapled pouch-anal anastomosis, without mucosectomy; 28 had a temporary, defunctioning ileostomy and 30 did not. The decision for or against an ileostomy was taken at the end of the operation. The two groups of patients were similar in age and sex distribution. There was no postoperative mortality. There were no significant differences in the incidence of pelvic sepsis, anastomotic stricture, and intestinal obstruction in patients without an ileostomy compared with patients with an ileostomy. The total length of stay in hospital after the operation was significantly reduced in the group of patients without an ileostomy (P less than 0.01). The avoidance of a temporary ileostomy did not lead to an increase in postoperative complications and was associated with a shorter length of stay in hospital after restorative proctocolectomy.