In the treatment of chronic ulcerative colitis, surgery may be limited to the construction of a temporary ileal stoma or may include total proctocolectomy and permanent ileostomy and ileorectostomy. Few reports are available which assess the results of multiple methods of surgical management in a series of consecutive cases. During the six-year period, 1954 through 1959, a total of 1,230 patients with chronic ulcerative colitis were hospitalized at the Mayo Clinic, and of these, 205 were treated surgically. This paper reviews these surgically treated cases with emphasis on the indications for surgery, type of operative management, and results during a postoperative period of two to eight years.
Patients with chronic ulcerative colitis who only had revision of an ileal stoma or anorectal surgery during the period covered by this study were excluded. In most cases, the clinical diagnosis of chronic ulcerative colitis was confirmed by pathologic examination of the resected