A rare surgery to overcome colostomy performed at Kochi Hospital

KOCHI: A rare surgery to prevent colostomy where the the whole large intestine was removed and a small pouch was created with the patient's own small intestine and attached to her anus was performed at Sunrise Hospital. This allows her to have a normal life without the discomfort of colostomy, including wearing a bag externally to collect fecal matter. 

The unique keyhole surgery was performed by Dr Baiju Senadhipan, well-known surgical gastroenterologist and laparoscopic cancer surgeon at the hospital. The patient, who hails from Karunagapally, has been suffering from a chromosomal anomaly, which is passed to generations of the family. Polyps that look like a bunch of grapes in the inner walls of large intestine turns into cancer when it is untreated or undiagnosed. Two members of the family now live with the effects of colostomy.

Removal of the large entire intestine is performed to prevent it from turning into cancer. After the removal of the large intestine, the pathway for the faecal matter to be excreted is done by bringing the end of intestine to the exterior, by fixing it to the abdominal wall and the fecal matter is collected in a bag (colostomy).