Stoma Complications

Stoma complications

        When talking about stoma complications, there are a few things that have to be established from the very beginning. First, the stoma complications can begin even before the patient has set foot inside an operating theatre. In this case, the complications range from the very benign to some rather perilous to the patients' health. For example, one of the serious ones is pretty obvious: the expansion of the abdomen. The patient might not notice it, since he or she would be in too much pain to care about an enlarged abdomen, but the attending physician should be aware that their person in their care might have liquid gathering inside them. The reason behind this gathering of liquid is simple: the intestine is so blocked or damaged that it literally has holes in it and the wastes are thrown all over the body, but especially in the abdominal cavity. If this stoma complication goes unnoticed, the consequences could be fairly catastrophic: the entire body of the sufferer is invaded with poison and he or she can go into shock.

       One of the benign stoma complications that are likely to appear before the surgery even took place is bloating. This time, the bloating does not affect the abdomen, but rather all the other parts of the body, especially the wrists and the feet. If the bloating gets painful, then it might be time for some sort of medication. Be careful and do not self medicate! Only the attending physician can prescribe the right treatment for you.

       The stoma complications that are directly related to the surgery are easy to identify and mostly refer to everything and anything that can go wrong during a surgical procedure. Firstly, the anesthetic dosage could be wrong. Of course, there are blood tests that are done before the surgery itself, but that does not guarantee anything in that specific moment. Secondly, the threat of infection is always present. The idea that an operating theatre is perfectly sterile is a utopia. However, most bacteria are harmless or easily dispatched. Thirdly, the human factor can never be completely taken for granted. Both the surgeon and the patient can be at fault for the human problem: if the surgeon clips something a little bit to the left than to the right, nothing fits anymore. If the patient has some sort of underlying condition and it is triggered on the operating table, not much can be done. The conclusion that can be drawn from all these factors is that the stoma surgery is just as safe or unsafe as any other procedure out there.

       Now, if the stoma complications belong to a different set of problems, then they can rarely be fixed easily. If the surgeon opens a patients' abdomen to perform a stoma because the patient has Chron's disease and discovers a cancer - riddled intestine, then the standard procedure says that he or she has to close up the patient. Usually, the sufferer is asked about the steps he or she wants to take and the surgeon might perform another stoma surgery in the same day, just to avoid the further spreading of the cancer.

       Post - care stoma complications include the prolapse of the stoma, infection and the rupture of the stoma pouch. The stoma prolapse can be explained in some rather pretentious terms, but in plain talk, the explanation is the following: the muscles that hold the stoma open are not meant to hold a round space open. In time, they tend to loosen and the internal pouch falls through the stoma and into the space between the abdominal muscles. The abdomen swells and the skin surrounding the stoma will redden. The good thing is identical to the bad thing in the case of stoma prolapse: it does not hurt. If it does not hurt, the patient might not notice it until it has become a real problem. Highly unlikely, though.

       The infection can be contracted from the environment, the food the patient ingests and even other people in their vicinity. Due to the fact that their intestinal flora is not working properly, the patient will present with a low immunity, which leads, of course, to the impossibility of fighting infections. Fortunately, not many life - threatening bacteria lurk around and those that pose real problems can be swiftly dealt with. Rupturing the stoma pouch is something that the sufferer can avoid by a careful maneuvering of the bag. If the pouch is filled to the brim, then it might be best to empty it first and then change it.