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Pelvic floor reconstruction after major cancer surgery
D Voros1, G Fragoulidis, T Theodosopoulos
1Second Department of Surgery, University of Athens, Aretaeio Hospital, Greece.
Background:
Many surgical techniques to keep the small intestine out of the pelvis after cancer surgery have been developed.
Methods:
We used part of the ileum and its mesentery sutured around the linea terminalis in ten patients who underwent surgery for rectal or gynecologic carcinomas.
Results:
All imaging studies of our patients on the tenth postoperative day confirmed the position of the bowel above the pelvis. Four of ten patients had radiation treatment postoperatively without any problems.
Conclusion:
Use of the ileum to reconstruct the pelvic floor seems to be a simple and efficacious technique to keep the pelvic area free. We believe this warrants further investigation in a larger number of patients.