Tube decompression after distal colectomy

Abstract

Paper read at the Annual Clinical Meeting of the Association of Surgeons and Physicians of Malta in December 1971. Defunctioning of the proximal colon after resection of the distal colon and anastomosis is a well-recognised procedure. It is not always carried out after pelvic colectomy or anterior resection of the rectum. There is, however, another method of producing decompression of the proximal colon that is rarely described. It has been used on eight consecutive patients with carcinoma of the pelvic colon or recto-sigmoid junction over a twelve month period: October 1970-October 1971. A short summary of the eight cases is presented. Decompression by rectal tube after distal colectomy appears to work satisfactorily and should reduce, at least, if it does not abolish, the practice of a transverse colostomy.