Colon Surgery Side Effects

Surgery for colorectal cancer is a common procedure, particularly in the earlier phases of the disease. Sometimes surgery is combined with chemotherapy and/or radiation treatments. Depending on the patient, side effects of surgery can range from mild, such as fatigue and discomfort to severe, including bleeding and blood clots in the legs. Most minor symptoms can be managed easily with medication and lifestyle modifications. Major symptoms often require additional surgery.

Prevalence of Surgery

• Surgery is usually the fist line of treatment for colorectal cancer. Depending on the severity and extent of the cancer, surgery may be supplemented with chemotherapy and radiation therapy. There are two basic types of surgery: open and laparascopic. In open surgery, the surgeon makes a long incision to remove bowel tumors and growths that have spread to other organs. In laparoscopic surgery, a small incision allows tiny instruments into the body to remove cancerous tissue.

  In some cases, the surgeon may remove large amounts of the colon and surrounding tissue. Often, the remaining sections of colon can be joined surgically and heal for normal bowel function. In other cases, where reconstruction is not possible, the surgeon creates a new passageway for waste (stoma) that is collected in a pouch outside the body (ostomy pouch).

Recovery Complications

• Fatigue and pain following colon cancer are common. Pain-reducing medications can help make the patient more comfortable, and bed rest may be necessary initially. Recovery and healing times vary according to individuals, according to the American Cancer Society.

  Eating and bowel problems usually resolve within the first few days after colon surgery, unless the surgery has been extensive and involves an ostomy pouch. Colostomies are more prevalent after rectal cancer surgery than colon surgery.

Other Side Effects

• Bleeding, blood clots in the legs and surgical damage to surrounding organs are other potential sideeffects.

  Irregular bowel movements, gas, flatulence, diarrhea, urinary urgency and bladder complications also can result from colon surgery. Gas and flatulence can be managed with dietary and ingestion modifications.

  Bowel incontinence is more common among patients who have undergone rectal surgery than those who have had a colostomy.

Sexual Dysfunction

• Sexual dysfunction is also a side effect more common among patients who have had wide rectal surgery than those with colostomy, according to the New York Times. Sildenafil (Viagra) often helps men who have this surgical complication.

  For a colostomy, where a hole for waste excretion outside the body is created, side effects may occur soon after or years later. Skin infection, hernia, bleeding, narrowing of the stoma and collapse are among potential side effects of this surgery.

Other Complications

• In most cases, a colostomy is a temporary measure to allow the colon or rectum to heal from surgery. Then the surgeon joins the parts of the bowel and closes the stoma. A physician, nurse or gastroenterostomal therapist will explain the correct way to clean the stoma to prevent infection.

  Patients also may develop scar tissue that causes abdominal tissues to stick together in adhesions. These can cause a bowel obstruction (ileus) that require surgical correction.