Yesterday, a British newspaper – the Daily Mail – reported about a new operation which could possibly spell the end of the Colostomy as we know it in the future.

Named the Anterior Perineal Plane for ultra-low Anterior Resection (APPEAR for short – wheres the “e” come from?), the operation involves removing the diseased part of the bowel and surgically altering part of the remaining bowel to form a pouch to recreate the rectum.

Pioneered by Professor Norman Williams of Barts hospital, London, the operation takes five to six hours to perform. However the operation is not suitable for those with advanced bowel cancer, or severely damaged sphincter muscles, but for those who did have the operation as part of a multi-centre trial performed around the world, two thirds of the patients reported a success with normal function resuming within six months, and for some it was as little as two months.

You can find the article on the Daily Mail website. And for more information visit Bowel Cancer Research Organisation website, or if in the UK phone them on: 020 7882 8749.

Useful Links:
Source Article about APPEAR on the Daily Mail website:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2070375/New-bowel-operation-replace-colostomies.html
Bowel Cancer Research Organisation (UK):
http://www.bowelcancerresearch.org/

Update: 08 December 2011 – 10am.

This story has certainly caused a stir amongst our readers both here on the Oland community and on our Facebook group, and various other ostomy websites around the world too.

One question was raised which was not answered by the article: Whats the difference between the APPEAR procedure, and the current J-Pouch procedure. Now, Im no medical student, and I have no personal experience of the J Pouch other than being in the same hospital ward bay as people having it, or having ileostomies as a result of a pouch failure. So, I decided to do a search via the various medical research database sites to try and find the answer, and to be honest, very little freely available information is available. Theres only a couple of articles registered about the trial so far, and it costs over $50 to buy a copy, so all we have to go on is the various extracts.

Here are some quotes and links to the extracts I found, including links to where you can buy the article if you are interested in it yourself. From what I’ve read it seems that the operation would still be available even if you didnt qualify for a JPouch normally. So it gives more options for people I guess. If you do buy the article, and you find out what the differences are between the APPEAR procedure and a JPouch please do write in and let me know! You can email me here. The article extracts and page links are available below. (Click on Continue Reading… if it appears)

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