Spontaneous closure of stoma

Intestinal loop stoma is a common surgical procedure performed for various benign and malignant abdominal problems, but it rarely undergoes spontaneous closure, without surgical intervention. Two male patients presented to our emergency surgical department with acute abdominal pain. One of them was diagnosed as having rectosigmoid perforation and underwent diversion sigmoid loop colostomy after primary closure of the perforation. The other was a known case of carcinoma of the rectum who had already undergone low anterior resection with covering loop ileostomy; the patient underwent second loop ileostomy, this time for complicated intestinal obstruction. To our surprise, both the loop colostomy and ileostomy closed spontaneously at 8 weeks and 6 weeks, respectively, without any consequences. Spontaneous stoma closure is a rare and interesting event. The exact etiology for spontaneous closure remains unknown, but it may be hypothesized to result from slow retraction of the stoma, added to the concept of a tendency towards spontaneous closure of enterocutaneous fistula.