No bacterium was identified that could be exclusively responsible for the maintenance of the inflammatory process. The mucosa-associated microflora of patients with ulcerative colitis underwent significant changes after proctocolectomy with ileal pouch construction and returned to almost normal values for some bacteria.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate, by means of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ), the quality of life of ulcerative colitis patients submitted to proctocolectomy with sphincter preservation using J-pouch reconstruction over ten years ago.METHODSThe study consisted of 36 patients interviewed using the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire. The score scale, resulting from the addition of each answer, ranged from 32 to 224, where the highest score indicates the best quality of life. The chi square test was used to verify the existence of meaningful differences between the results of the questionnaire and age, and gender proportion. For each section, as well as for all of them combined, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used to verify if there were differences in the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire scores among the groups in relation to the proportions.RESULTSAfter applying the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire, it was determined that quality of life was considered excellent for 9 (25%), good for 11 (30.6%), regular for 13 (36.1%), and bad for 3 (8.3%) patients. In our study, we determined that 85% of the patients were pleased with and thankful for the surgery that they underwent.CONCLUSIONWe can conclude that the possibility of sphincter preservation should always be taken into account, since patients remain clinically stable and have a high quality of life even after long periods.

In order to gain insight into the possible mechanisms involved in gallstone formation in colectomized ulcerative colitis patients, we studied gallbladder motility by means of ultrasonography in three groups of subjects: controls (N = 40) and ulcerative colitis patients without (N = 30) and with (N = 20) colectomy. Impaired gallbladder emptying after a liquid fatty meal stimulus was observed in ulcerative colitis patients with colectomy compared with those obtained in ulcerative colitis patients without colectomy and controls (P = 0.001). The maximum percentage of gallbladder emptying also, was significantly lower (59.8%) than those seen in ulcerative colitis patients without colectomy (74.5%) and controls (77.8%) (P = 0.001). Diminished gallbladder emptying with ensuing stasis might be a contributory factor to the increased prevalence of gallstones in colectomized patients.

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