The following is a summary of “Functional outcome after Hartmann’s reversal surgery using LARS, COREFO & QoL scores,” published in the FEBRUARY 2023 issue of Surgery by Hoof, et al.
Functional complaints after colorectal surgery can significantly impact a patient’s quality of life (QoL). Therefore, for a cross-sectional study, researchers sought to investigate the prevalence of functional complaints and quality of life in patients who underwent Hartmann’s reversal surgery between 2007 and 2019.
About 119 patients were enrolled in a cross-sectional study. Between 2007 and 2019, all patients received Hartmann’s reversal surgery. In addition, all patients were given three validated questionnaires about bowel function in benign and colorectal cancer surgery and overall QoL.
The response rate was 67%. Among the responders, 32.8% reported symptoms similar to low anterior resection syndrome (LARS), while 25% had significant COREFO scores (>15), indicating fecal incontinence. Higher LARS and COREFO scores were significantly associated with worse global quality of life and several quality of life domain scores (P < 0.05).
The study highlighted the prevalence of bowel dysfunction after Hartmann’s reversal surgery and its impact on a patient’s quality of life. The functional complaints reported by patients who underwent this procedure were similar to those reported in the literature for patients who had a resection without a colostomy. These findings emphasized the importance of evaluating and managing functional complaints in patients undergoing Hartmann’s reversal surgery to improve their quality of life.
Source: americanjournalofsurgery.com/article/S0002-9610(22)00552-9/fulltext