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Toggle: English / SpanishTypes of ileostomy
Alternate Names
Ileostomy - types; Standard ileostomy; Brooke ileostomy; Continent ileostomy; Abdominal pouch; End ileostomy; Ostomy
Description:
You had an injury or disease in your digestive system and needed an operation called an ileostomy. The operation changed the way your body gets rid of waste (stool, feces, or poop).
Now you have an opening called a stoma in your belly. Waste will pass through the stoma into a pouch that collects it. You will need to take care of the stoma and empty the pouch many times a day.
What to Expect at Home:
Stool that comes from your ileostomy is thin or thick liquid. It may also be pasty. It is not solid like the stool that came from your colon. You must take care of the skin around the stoma.
If you have an ileostomy, you can still do normal activities, such as traveling, playing sports, doing things with your family, and working. You will learn how to take care of your stoma and pouch as part of your daily routine. Your ileostomy will not shorten your life.
What Does an Ileostomy Do?:
An ileostomy removes or goes around (bypasses) the parts of your digestive system that make waste. These parts are your large and small intestine and rectum.
Waste now leaves your body through the stoma in your belly. The waste drains into a pouch that is attached to the skin around your stoma. The pouch is made to fit your body well. You must wear it all the time.
The waste that collects will be liquid or pasty, depending on what you eat, what medicines you take, and other things. Waste collects constantly, so you will need to empty the pouch 5 to 8 times a day.
Standard, Brooke, or End Ileostomy:
Standard ileostomy surgery is the most common kind of ileostomy that is done. The end of the ileum (part of your small intestine) is pulled through your abdomen and turned inside out. Then it is sewn to your skin. It becomes the stoma for waste to pass through.
Most times, the stoma is placed in the right lower part of the belly on a flat surface of normal, smooth skin.
Continent Ileostomy (Abdominal Pouch):
A continent ileostomy is a different type of ileostomy. In continent ileostomy, a pouch that collects waste is made from part of the small intestine. This pouch stays inside your body, and it connects to your stoma through a valve that your surgeon creates.
People with this kind of ileostomy do not need to wear a pouch on the outside. Waste is drained by putting a tube (catheter) through the stoma a few times each day.
Continent ileostomies are not done very often anymore. They can cause many problems that need medical treatment, and sometimes they need to be redone.
- Reviewed last on: 12/8/2008
- George F Longstreth, MD, Department of Gastroenterology, Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program San Diego, California. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
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