Short-term Outcome of Early Closure of Diverting Loop Ileostomy in Patients with Emergency Benign Colo-rectal Pathologies

Aim of work: To investigate the short-term outcome of early closure of loop ileostomy in cases diverted foremergency benign indications after distal colectomies and primary anastomosis.Patients and methods: The present prospective randomized controlled study included 62 patients presentedwith non-malignant distal gastrointestinal emergencies including obstruction, and destructive trauma who wererandomly allocated into two groups.Group A included 31 patients: who underwent early revision for the simple loop ileostomy 3 weeks after theprimary intervention.Group B included 31 patients who underwent early revision for the simple loop ileostomy 3 months after theprimary intervention.Follow-up was planned for a month for any evolving complications including wound complications (Midline andstoma site), unexplained abdominal pain (Suspicious for anastomotic leakage), ileus, unexplained fever, and oralintake intolerance.Results: The mean age was 36.4±5.3 and 37.2±4.7 years for groups A and B respectively. The main cause ofthe primary intervention was sigmoid injuries followed by rectal injuries in both groups. There was a statisticallysignificant higher rate of post-reversal ileus in Group B (p=0.001*). The incidence of stomal complications includingperistomal infections, mucosal sloughing, stoma retraction, and parastomal hernias were higher in Group B.Conclusion: Within carefully tailored selection criteria, patients with diverting loop ileostomy protecting a distalcolonic anastomosis after colonic resection for emergency non-malignant indications can have their ileostomiesreversed early.