title: The Biethium bridge--an advance in stoma care.
abstract: The majority of currently available colostomy bridges lie on the skin surface. Until their removal around the seventh postoperative day, they frequently prevent the formation of a complete seal between the appliance and the skin, resulting in faecal leakage. This is distressing to the new stoma patient. In contrast, the Biethium bridge is inserted subcutaneously producing a small, flush stoma to which the colostomy bag can easily be applied and therefore faecal leakage is no longer a problem. Our experience with 35 patients is described.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002921:Cicatrix / Q000473:pathology; D003125:Colostomy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D013997:Time Factors; D014945:Wound Healing