It is almost 60 years since Rudolph Nissen performed a three-staged procedure of ileostomy, total colectomy, and ileoanal anastomosis. During the last 15 years, the ileoanal operation has gained wide use in treating mucosal ulcerative colitis and familial polyposis.
The authors have written an extremely interesting and complete textbook based on information from four continents. The last complete textbook on the pelvic pouch, edited by Roger R. Dozois, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn, was entitled Alternatives to Conventional Ileostomy and was published in 1985.
In the 15 chapters of their text, the authors have succeeded in addressing the technical and metabolic problems associated with pelvic pouch procedures. They also have addressed all of the known complications, providing detailed advice regarding treatment. The drawings are simple line drawings, but are very illustrative. The authors draw heavily on results of their physiologic studies in writing an excellent review chapter on