What to do when faced with signs of colopathy?
When signs of colopathy appear, such as abdominal pain, transit disorders such as diarrhea or constipation, abdominal bloating or the appearance of blood in the stools, a distinction must be made between functional colopathy (without colon damage ) and diverticular or precancerous disease. For this, we use colonoscopy, which is the most efficient examination to visualize the entire colon.
When is a partial removal of the colon proposed to treat colopathy?
We propose a partial ablation of the colon, or partial colectomy, when we are faced with a large number of polyps or a tumoral lesion. When diverticula are present, colectomy is considered when episodes of diverticulitis (inflammation and infection of the diverticula) recur too often. In partial colectomy, the remaining colon can either be directly connected to the rectum or brought to the skin and connected to a pocket on the abdomen. It is then a colostomy. This is usually temporary, giving the intestine time to heal. The restoration of continuity takes place a few months later and the transit can resume normally.
