Intraoperative antegrade colon irrigation--in the management of obstructing left-sided colon cancer

The management of obstructing left-sided colon cancer remains controversial. The advent of intraoperative antegrade colonic irrigation (I.A.C.I.) has allowed primary anastomosis to be performed in the obstructed bowel. From July 1985 to Feb. 1989, there were eleven patients with obstructing left-sided colon cancer admitted to Changhwa Christian Hospital. Eight of these patients, five men and three women, age ranged from 31 to 80 years old, accepted the I.A.C.I. procedure and followed by the one-staged operations. The I.A.C.I. procedure was advocated by Dudley et al in 1980. Postoperatively, there was no case which suffered from clinical leakage or sepsis, except two cases with mild wound infection. Consequently, there was no operative mortality.