title: Surgical treatment of a parastomal hernia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Parastomal hernia is a major complication of an intestinal stoma. This study was performed to compare the results of various operative methods to treat parastomal hernias.
  
  
  METHODS
  Results of surgical treatment for parastomal hernias (postoperative recurrence, complications and postoperative hospital stays) were surveyed in 39 patients over an 11-year period. The patients enrolled in this study underwent surgery by a single surgeon to exclude surgeon bias.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventeen patients were male, and twenty-two patients were female. The mean age was 65.9 years (range, 36 to 86 years). The stomas were 35 sigmoid-end-colostomies (90%), 2 loop-colostomies (5%), and 2 double-barrel-colostomies. Over half of the hernias developed within two years after initial formation. Stoma relocation was performed in 8 patients, suture repair in 14 patients and mesh repair in 17 patients. Seven patients had recurrence of the hernia, and ten patients suffered from complications. Postoperative complications and recurrence were more frequent in stoma relocation than in suture repair and mesh repair. Emergency operations were performed in four patients (10.3%) with higher incidence of complications but not with increased risk of recurrence. Excluding emergency operations, complications of relocations were not higher than those of mesh repairs. Postoperative hospital stays were shortest in mesh repair patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, mesh repair showed low recurrence and a low complication rate with shorter hospital stay than relocation methods, though these differences were not statistically significant. Further studies, including randomized trials, are necessary if more reliable data on the surgical treatment of parastomal hernias are to be obtained.
authors: Department of Surgery, Seoul Metropolitan Government Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
authors: Seung Chul
authors: SC
authors: Heo
authors: Heung-Kwon
authors: HK
authors: Oh
authors: Yoon Suk
authors: YS
authors: Song
authors: Mi Sun
authors: MS
authors: Seo
authors: Eun Kyung
authors: EK
authors: Choe
authors: Seungbum
authors: S
authors: Ryoo
authors: Kyu Joo
authors: KJ
authors: Park