All ostomy surg­eries serve the same basic pur­pose: cre­ate a stoma to pro­vide the body with an alter­nate way to remove waste when the body’s reg­u­lar waste removal systems—the uri­nary or diges­tive system—malfunction. The rea­sons for Ostomy Surgery are many but they fall into three main categories:

1. inher­ited con­di­tions such as famil­ial polyposis,
2. injuries to the diges­tive or uri­nary tract,
3. dis­eases such as Crohns dis­ease, blad­der can­cer, and bowel cancer.

Inher­ited Con­di­tions
Birth defects and other inher­ited con­di­tions can cause the body’s waste removal sys­tems to mal­func­tion. These include:

• Hirsch Sprung dis­ease: a birth defect in which the nerves in the bowel wall are miss­ing from the anal region up the bowel for a vari­able dis­tance. These nerves nor­mally assist the bowel’s move­ment of stool. As a result, the bowel suf­fers mas­sive enlarge­ment above the area of miss­ing nerves.
• Famil­ial poly­po­sis: an inher­ited con­di­tion in which hun­dreds of polyps form in the colon and rec­tum, which can obstruct the bowel
• Imper­fo­rate anus: a birth defect where the rec­tum is not con­nected to the anus. As a result, the bowel has no out­let from the body.
• Spina Bifida: a birth defect of the spinal col­umn that leaves part of the spinal cord unpro­tected. This can result in bowel and/or blad­der incontinence.

Acci­den­tal Injury
When trauma dam­ages part of the body’s waste removal sys­tem, an ostomy may be nec­es­sary. In some cases, the Ostomy might only be tem­po­rary, to allow the injured area to rest and heal so the pro­ce­dure can be reversed after the body has healed. In cases where the dam­age to the intestines or blad­der is too great to be repaired, the injured area is usu­ally removed. An Ostomy bypasses the miss­ing organ pro­vid­ing an alter­nate exit for body waste.

Dis­ease
Bowel and blad­der dis­eases are some of the most com­mon causes for ostomy surgery. Dis­eases affect­ing the bowel and blad­der include:

• Crohn’s dis­ease: a dis­or­der that causes inflam­ma­tion of the diges­tive tract, espe­cially the small intes­tine. The result­ing swelling can cause pain, diar­rhea, and even blockage.
• Diver­ti­c­uli­tis: a dis­or­der that causes inflam­ma­tion of the diver­tic­ula, which are part of the large intes­tine wall.
• Ulcer­a­tive col­i­tis: a dis­ease that causes inflam­ma­tion and sores to form in the lin­ing of the colon and rec­tum. In severe cases, the colon may need to be removed and Ostomy surgery performed.

Note: Irri­ta­ble bowel syn­drome (IBS) is a diges­tive tract syn­drome, not a dis­ease like those listed above. It does not cause dam­age to the diges­tive tract, so does not require Ostomy surgery. To date, no link has been found between IBS and other inflam­ma­tory bowel diseases.

Can­cers are a group of dis­eases char­ac­ter­ized by uncon­trolled cell divi­sion, result­ing in malig­nant tumors that can dam­age the affected organs and invade nearby tis­sue. Although not all bowel and blad­der can­cers require Ostomy surgery, these can­cers can dam­age the affected organs and inter­fere with their func­tion, so that they need to be removed and/or bypassed.

Many dif­fer­ent con­di­tions can inter­fere with the body’s abil­ity to process and elim­i­nate its waste. When this hap­pens, ostomy surgery can pro­vide a backup sys­tem for waste removal. Whether it’s per­ma­nent because the colon or small bowel had to be removed, or tem­po­rary to give the colon or small bowel heal­ing time after an acci­dent, ostomy pro­vides an alter­nate way for the body to remove waste. By doing so, ostomy surg­eries save lives.

After return­ing to a healthy active life, most osto­m­ates never look back.