Loop ileostomy--an attractive alternative to a temporary transverse colostomy.

Right-sided transverse colostomy and loop ileostomy when temporary used for protecting a new-constructed colorectal anastomosis were compared in two matched series of patients. The relative safety of the methods as expressed in complication rate on construction and subsequent closure and any difficulties associated with stoma care were assessed. The results indicate that a loop ileostomy, when properly constructed is well born even in elderly patients and is followed by a remarkably swift convalescence. Construction and closure appeared not to be associated with more difficulties or complications than transverse colostomy. As far as stoma care is concerned, transverse colostomy offered, if anything, more difficulties than the loop ileostomy. With modern appliances a loop ileostomy presents no more problems than a well-established conventional end ileostomy, and since a loop ileostomy is a more reliable defunctioning stoma than the transverse colostomy, it should probably be preferred when the primary purpose is to protect a colorectal anastomosis.