[Problems after surgery of the colon (author's transl)]

After surgery of the colon 3 types of sequelae may be observed: 1. Acute intra- and postoperative complications, as insufficiency of the anastomosis, ileus, and rebleeding; sequelae of these acute complications may be stenosis of the stenosis and intraabdominal adhesions. 2. Chronic postoperative syndromes like blind-loop syndrome, diarrhoea and/or continence problems, problems arising from an anus praeter, disturbances of sexual and bladder function. These symptoms occur rather rarely after partial resection of the rectum or amputation of the rectum. 3. Recurrence of the main disease, especially cancer disease, be it a local recurrence or metastasis. A well organized follow-up of cancer patients may increase survival time only in a few cases, but it definitely may improve quality of life by different means.