[Covering stoma in anterior rectum resection with TME for rectal cancer in elderly patients].
OBJECTIVE
The aim of our study is to evaluate the advisability of covering stoma in Anterior Rectum Resection with TME in elderly patients.


METHODS
A research of both the Ministry of Health and Terni Hospital databases has been conducted so as to collect information about patients with rectal tumor. Such research allowed to identify the amount of patients diagnosed with rectal cancer, the type of intervention, and the average hospitalization time.


RESULTS
Between January 1997 and June 2008, 209 patients have undergone chirurgical surgery at Terni hospital's General and Emergency Surgical Clinic. An Anterior Rectum Resection with TME has been performed in 135 patients out of the sample (64.59%).


CONCLUSIONS
The average hospitalization time of geriatric patients does not show significant differences compared to that of younger patients. An age-cohort analysis has been performed among patients who have been subject to stomia and those who have not. The former have been further split up between those who underwent ileostomy and those subject to colostomy. While ileostomy patients face a similar hospitalization time across all age cohorts, geriatric colostomy patients face longer hospitalizations than younger patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients subject to Anterior Rectum Resection show no meaningful differences, in terms of hospitalization time, across all age cohorts. In geriatric patients the construction of covering stoma has resulted in longer hospitalizations only when a loop colostomy was executed, as opposed to loop ileostomy.
Cirocchi
Roberto
R
Clinica di Chirurgia Generale e d'Urgenza, Ospedale S. Maria, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Terni, Italia. e-maicirocchiroberto@yahoo.it
Grassi
Veronica
V
Barillaro
Ivan
I
Cacurri
Alban
A
Koltraka
Bledar
B
Coccette
Marco
M
Sciannameo
Francesco
F
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004766:Enterostomy; D006801:Humans; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D012007:Rectum / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies