The quality of life after restorative proctocolectomy for ulcerative colitis in Indians

Somashekar, Uday; Subash, Gupta and Nundy, S. (2002) The quality of life after restorative proctocolectomy for ulcerative colitis in Indians. In: Proceedings of the Xllth Annual Conference of Indian Association of Surgecal Gastroentrology (IASG), 2002, Delhi, India.

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Abstract

Background: The quality of life after sphincter saving operations for ulcerative colitis has not been accurately measured For Indians in India. Patients & Methods: Between 1996 and 2002, we carried out 42 J-pouch ileoanal anastomoses for ulcerative colitis in two or three stages depending on the disease severity and steroid dosage. 38 patients had the operation done at least 6 months previously (6 months to 5.5 years), 15 could be assessed by the Cleveland Global Quality of Life (CGQL) index by personal interview/mailed questionnaire. This is a validated index for IPAA, the score being 1 in normal people. There were 10 males and 5 females with a mean age of 38 years. Results: One patient died following surgery and the other complications included intestinal obstruction (n=3), pouchitis(n=2), incisional hernia(n=l), primary peritonitis(n=l). One pouch had to be defunctioned following development of a fistula possibly because of Crohn's disease. The mean postoperative stool frequency was 6/d (4-10).98% rated their pouch function to be excellent/good. All patients preferred IPAA to an ileostomy citing social & cultural reasons. The preoperative CGQL score was 0.23 and after colectomy this rose to 0.52. After closure of ileostomy the score was 0.83. Conclusions: After a J-pouch reconstruction for ulcerative colitis there is a considerable improvement in the quality of life.

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