Experience of restorative proctocolectomy with ileal reservoir

The experience gained with restorative proctocolectomy and ileal reservoir in 60 patients is presented. Fifty-two patients had W reservoirs and the operative technique of the procedure is described in detail. Forty patients had a defunctioning ileostomy and 20 had a single stage procedure. There was no perioperative mortality. The main complications were sepsis (28 per cent), intestinal obstruction (18 per cent) and reservoir ileitis (20 per cent). There was a significant improvement in sepsis rate (from 20 to 4 per cent) and hospital stay (from 31.8 to 15.6 days) with increased experience. The functional results of 48 patients with W reservoirs was assessed. The mean number of evacuations per 24 h (+/- s.d.) was 3.8 +/- 0.2. Sixty-five per cent of patients did not evacuate at all, or rarely, at night and none evacuated more than once at night. Forty-four per cent of patients took antidiarrhoeal agents. Continence was normal in 50 per cent of patients. Minor leakage occurred in 46 per cent of cases, frequent leakage in 4 per cent and incontinence in none. Sexual function in 29 men was normal. Ninety-four per cent of patients considered the results of their operation to be good or excellent.