Objective to characterize patients with ostomy treated at a municipal and regional reference center in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Methods this is a retrospective and descriptive study, based on the records of patients with ileostomy or colostomy recorded in this service between 2000 and 2010.
Results a total of 273 patients were studied, of which 145 were females. The mean age was 64.5 years. Patients with incomplete elementary education (43.6%) and retirees/pensioners (44.7%) were the most prevalent. The main cause for the stoma was neoplastic disease, with 45.8% of colorectal cancer and 5.5% of cancers at other sites. Other causes were: diverticular disease (7%), bowel obstruction (7%), functional bowel disorders (4.8%), abdominal trauma (2.9%), non-traumatic bowel perforation (2.6%), inflammatory bowel diseases (1.8%) and intestinal polyposis (0.7%). Regarding the type of ostomy, 85.7% were performed by colostomy and 15.8% by ileostomy.
Conclusions the study population consisted mainly of patients older than 60 and females. The main intervention performed was permanent colostomy and the most important cause for the procedure performance was colorectal cancer.