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Colonoscopy Preparation With an Ileostomy

When a colon is lost to cancer or other disease, the small intestine can be attached to the abdominal wall so waste passes into a bag--an ileostomy bag. Regular colonoscopies to screen for cancer prevent loss of the small intestine. To see clearly during a colonoscopy, the intestines must be empty. Colonoscopy preparation with an ileostomy is designed to empty the intestines, but that preparation only takes one day.

  1. No prep

    • Waste passes through the colon slowly, requiring preparation to cleanse the colon of all fecal matter. On the day before the colonoscopy only fluids can be ingested. In the late afternoon and evening of that day the “prep”--a saline laxative prescribed by the doctor--hurries the waste through the colon. But waste passes so quickly through the small intestine that once the colon has been removed there is no need for the prep. Colonoscopy preparation with an ileostomy bag usually does not require the saline laxative.

    NPO

    • NPO stands for a Latin term meaning “nothing by way of the mouth.” Colonoscopy preparation with an ileostomy means NPO the day of the colonoscopy. Waste passes completely through the small intestine in six to eight hours, so not eating or drinking on the day of the colonoscopy allows plenty of time for the small intestine to empty.

    Ileostomy bag

    • Colonoscopy preparation with an ileostomy bag includes packing a new ileostomy bag for use after the procedure. The ileostomy bag you are wearing will be removed and discarded when you are readied for the procedure at the surgery center or hospital. Remember to take a new bag.

    Warning

    • Follow doctor’s orders. Some patients with ileostomy bags do require one dose of prep, according to Dr. David H. Balaban, a Charlottesville, Va., gastroenterologist.

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