J. Chen1, D. T. Huynh1, C. M. Divino1 1Icahn School Of Medicine At Mount Sinai,General Surgery,New York, NY, USA
Introduction: Loop ileostomies are often created to temporarily protect a distal anastomosis however closure of the stoma can be associated with anastomotic leak(AL) and morbidity. The aim of our study is to compare the anastomotic leak rate after loop ileostomy closure(LIC) with the leak rate after small bowel resection(SBR).
Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed of patients at our institution from 2005-2014 for patients diagnosed with anastomotic leak after LIC and compared to those who developed an anastomotic leak after a SBR.
Results: The anastomotic leak rate after LIC was 3.16% compared to 1.16% for SBR. This difference in the leak rate between LIC and SBR was found to be statistically significant(p=0.0023). There was no significant difference found between the comorbidities of the two groups.
Conclusion: The anastomotic leak rate after LIC is 2.7 times that of the leak rate after SBR which is significantly different despite the procedures involving the same small bowel to small bowel anastomosis. We hypothesize that this is due to difficulty gaining adequate exposure through the local incision during LIC compared to SBR.
