Complications of colostomy performed on gynecologic cancer patients

From 1/1/80 to 5/31/90 111 patients underwent a colostomy on a gynecologic oncology service. Six patients developed 7 (6.3%) early colostomy-related complications, including sepsis (1), stomal retraction (1), ostomy wound infection (3), and partial stomal obstruction (2). The sepsis was felt to be related to spillage of stool upon maturing the colostomy, and this patient expired on Postoperative Day 63. There were no other mortalities attributed to the colostomies. Fourteen patients developed 17 (15.3%) delayed colostomy-related complications, including parastomal hernia (5), stomal retraction (1), stomal prolapse (3), tumor replacement (2), and site-choice problems (6). These results compare favorably with those in the literature and support the continued role of the gynecologic oncologist in gynecologic cancer-related gastrointestinal surgery.