MOTILITY EFFECTS OF ANTERIOR RESECTION OF THE RECTUM PERFORMED FOR DIVERTICULAR DISEASE

A colonic motility study was performed on fifty-five patients with symptomatic complicated diverticular disease who underwent semi-elective surgery and twenty healthy volunteers. The pressure sensors were positioned in the descending and the true sigmoid colon. The colonic motility index was significantly higher in patients with symptomatic complicated diverticular disease than in controls in the basal (p < 0.001) and post-prandial periods (p < 0.001). Three months after anterior resection of the rectum with wide resection of descending colon, the motility index was significantly reduced (p < 0.001) compared to that before treatment; all patients were asymptomatic. Three years and five years later, the manometric findings continued to be stable, and the patients continued to be asymptomatic. These data suggest that anterior resection of the rectum (with wide resection of the descending colon) decreases intraluminal pressure significantly, and this effect appears long-lasting.