Complications of diverting ileostomy after low anterior resection for rectal carcinoma

There have been few studies directly comparing the postoperative complications in patients with a diverting ileostomy to patients who were not diverted after low anterior resection (LAR) for rectal carcinoma. This study is a retrospective chart review of all rectal carcinoma patients (99) who underwent a LAR from January 2009 to December 2014 at Loma Linda University Medical Center and Veterans Affairs Loma Linda Healthcare System. A majority of patients were diverted (58% vs 42%). The diverted patients were more likely to have a low tumor location (P<0.01), preoperative chemoradiation (P<0.01), and more intraoperative blood loss (P<0.01). Our study shows a statistically significant higher overall complication rate among patients receiving a diverting ileostomy in the six months after LAR (61% vs 38%, P 5 0.02). The difference is due to a higher rate of readmission (27% vs 14%) and acute kidney injury (14% vs 5%) in patients with a diverting ileostomy. It also shows that there is a higher rate of unplanned reoperation (11% vs 6%) due to anastomotic leak (17% vs 5%) in nondiverted patients. Further studies are needed to refine the specific indications to maximize the benefit of diverting ileostomy after LAR for rectal carcinoma.