7 Complications of Ostomy

As the times progress, medicine and science are also developing rapidly. Ostomy is one of the products of the development of modern medicine. Ostomy is a surgery to connect some tubes and organs in the body from the outside, such as the intestines and blood vessels. Ostomy must make an opening inside and outside the body to connect, so it will cause greater harm to the patient's body and there are also many postoperative complications. Below I will introduce several complications in detail.

Stoma necrosis is the most serious complication after colostomy surgery, which is mainly caused by insufficient arterial blood supply. It often occurs within 1 to 2 days after surgery and is related to factors such as excessive tension on the intestinal segment at the stoma, excessive separation of the mesentery, damage to the marginal artery of the colon, compression or excessive traction of the mesentery during surgery, too small abdominal wall incision at the stoma, and vascular compression.

Stoma edema After colostomy surgery, the stoma mucosa will generally have varying degrees of edema or local dark purple, which is mostly caused by blood reflux obstruction in the fistula intestinal tract. Under normal circumstances, the edema will gradually subside after 1 week and no special treatment is required.

Peristomal inflammation is the most common complication caused by repeated stimulation of the skin around the stoma by intestinal fluid, feces, etc.

Stoma stenosis occurs in the early stage after surgery, mostly due to the small abdominal wall incision during surgery. Stoma stenosis occurs in the late stage, mostly due to scar contracture. In clinical care, the stoma can be dilated with the index finger starting from the first day after surgery, 1 to 2 times a day, each time for > 2 minutes. Continuous dilation of the stoma for 2 weeks can effectively prevent stoma stenosis.

Bleeding is often caused by bleeding from capillaries and small veins at the junction of the intestinal fistula mucosa and the skin, or by unligated or falling-off of the ligature of the mesenteric arterioles. When the amount of bleeding is small, you can apply slight pressure with a cotton ball or gauze. When the bleeding is heavy, you can apply pressure with gauze soaked in 1% epinephrine solution or apply Yunnan Baiyao powder externally. When there is a lot of bleeding, sutures are required to stop the bleeding.