Early vs. Late Stoma Reversal After Open Low Anterior Resection Post-Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy

Diversion stomas are done to protect the patients from anastomosis-related complications after low anterior resection, particularly after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Problems with these temporary stomas are the significant deterioration in quality of life along with medical and surgical complications. Diversion ileostomy is the most commonly performed diversion procedure. Reversal of stoma is usually done after completion of adjuvant chemotherapy. Studies looking into the safety of early stoma reversal have shown conflicting results. The objective of this work is to study the advantages, disadvantages, and complications associated with early ileostomy reversal when compared to late ileostomy reversal in patients undergoing stoma reversal that was done as part of open low anterior resection for rectal cancer. Total of 92 patients were recruited for the study during the time period March, 2018, to June, 2019; 12 patients did not fulfill the inclusion criteria. A total of 80 patients were analyzed, 39 of whom underwent early reversal and 41 underwent late reversal. All of whom were prospectively followed up to assess the quality of life and complications associated with early and late stoma reversals. Both groups of patients were similar in the baseline characteristics. Perioperative complications were found to be significantly increased in the late reversal group when compared to early reversal group (7 vs. 0 with P 0.043). Quality-of-life assessment showed significant improvement in patients who underwent early stoma reversal with significant improvement in raw score, functional score, and symptoms score (P < 0.001). Adjuvant chemotherapy was also not significantly delayed in the early reversal group. Early stoma reversal should be offered to patients after open low anterior resection post-NACTRT, as it is safer and associated with improvement in quality of life.