[Toward the ideal bag: a clinical evaluation of a new aid for ostomized patients].

The authors report the results of a multicentre trial to evaluate the characteristics of a new bag for ostomised patients (Coloplast Alterna). While affirming that a correct technique is essential to avoid complications and to achieve good stoma function, the authors emphasise that the bag also pays an important role in giving confidence to patients and enabling them to enjoy a social life which is as similar as possible to that before surgery. In the search for the ideal bag the trial evaluated adhesive, filter and the bag and a whole. 85% of the 92 patients who tested the new bag for four weeks considered it good or excellent. Although it cannot yet be considered ideal, Alterna represents a further step towards this aim.