Quality of life of patients with permanent colostomy and low anterior resections (meta-analysis)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: patients with rectal cancer after low anterior resections and with permanent colostomy inevitably face negative functional consequences of treatment. The question of anastomosis performing often remains unanswered. AIM: to compare the quality of life of patients with rectal cancer after low anterior resections and surgical treatment with a permanent colostomy.MATERIALS AND METHODS: literature search was performed in MEDLINE database according to PRISMA criteria using the keywords: “QoL”, “Quality of life”, “EORTC”, “low anterior resection” “rectal”, “stoma”, “ostomy” using suffixes [OR], [AND]. The meta-analysis included 9 retrospective studies with 2438 patients.RESULTS: no significant differences were found in global health status between the groups (p = 0.11). A significant difference with a worse score in ostomy patients is noted on the physical (p = 0.003), role (p = 0.002), emotional (p = 0.03) and social functioning (p = 0.004). In contrast, patients undergoing sphincter-preserving surgery have a higher incidence of constipation and diarrhea (p < 0.00001).CONCLUSION: patients with permanent stoma and after low anterior resections have comparable global health status. These patients have different profiles of disturbances in QoL patterns and functional consequences of surgery.