Use of terminal colostomy in a dog with rectal obstructive neoplasm

Abstract

Colostomy is a surgical procedure in which the intestinal route is diverted to the abdomen through an intestinal stoma sutured to the skin. It is rarely reported in veterinary medicine due to postoperative complications such as suture dehiscence, infections, dermatitis, fecal incontinence, and mainly the tutor's difficulty in adapting to handling the bag. Surgical indication exists in cases of obstructive neoplasms in the colon and rectum, with the purpose of increasing the animal's quality of life by enabling the evasion of fecal content. The objective of this study is to report a surgical case of colostomy in a canine, Labrador, female and 13 years of age, as a possible procedure to treat signs of obstruction resulting from rectal neoplasm and to present the favorable and unfavorable factors of the procedure. The technique utilized was terminal colostomy with access to the abdominal cavity through the left flank. Despite tumor involvement, difficulty in management with the colostomy bag and the emergence of peristomal lesions, treatment resulted in increased patient survival and improvement of clinical signs of obstruction, and can thus be considered effective in cases of patients who need to divert the fecal route.