Effect of water irrigations on human colonic mucosa structure after sigmoidostomy

The colonic mucosa of patients with sigmoidostomies, who were operated on for rectal cancer, and treated thereafter for different periods of time with daily water irrigations to obtain complete evacuation, was investigated by histologic and histochemical methods. Microscopic examination of the test specimens showed that the epithelial continuity, the characteristic brush border, and the positive mucous reaction to PAS and Alcian blue-Alcian yellow methods were not significantly changed with respect to controls. In some test specimens a remarkable number of mitoses were evident in the crypts. Since this could result from water irrigation stimuli and/or might represent an early manifestation of a restored carcinogenetic process, specific investigations were performed on the 0-acylated sialic acids of the colonic mucins, which have been reported to represent markers of early malignant changes in colorectal epithelial cells. The results did not reveal alterations of the sialomucins in the treated specimens with respect to controls.