Does colostomy restoration increase the risk of developing a subsequent rectal cancer?

Abstract

Introduction. In the last five years (from 1st of January 2013 to 31st of December 2017), we noticed 6 cases of rectal cancer, developed in patients who underwent stoma reversal more than two years before, for different pathologies. The objective of the study. That was a starting point to analyze whether the restoration of a total digestive diversion, well known to improve life quality, also increases the risk of malignancy. Material and methods. We studied all the patients with colostomy reversal hospitalized in the General Surgery Clinic of the Emergency Clinical Hospital “Sfântul Pantelimon“, Bucharest, Romania, in a ten years interval (1st of January 2008 – 31st of December 2017), no matter the primary cause of colostomy was. Results. Our study showed that stoma reversal increase the risk of developing a rectal malignancy two years from restoration. Conclusions. We recommend annual control by recto‑sigmoidoscopy both in patients with terminal permanent colostomy and in those with stoma reversal, in order to early discover a subsequent rectal cancer.

Keywords

• colostomy restoration
• stoma reversal
• rectal cancer risk