Significant morbidity is associated with proximal fecal diversion among high-risk patients who undergo colectomy: A NSQIP analysis

Background: The value of proximal fecal diversion for patients undergoing colectomies is an ongoing debate. Previous studies have shown a benefit in decreased anastomotic leak rates and mitigation of the morbidity of a leak, especially in high-risk populations. However, more recent data suggests increased morbidity with fecal diversion, creating a complication with an unknown degree of anastomotic leak reduction. Therefore, we aimed to determine the impact on morbidity of a diverting loop ileostomy (DLI) in patients with a high risk of anastomotic leak. Methods: The ACS-NSQIP database was queried (via CPT code) for adult patients (age ≥18 years) who underwent a colectomy only or colectomy with ileostomy (CWI) between Jan 2013 and Dec 2016. We compared thirty-day outcomes between a 3:1 propensity-matched colectomy only group to patients who had a CWI. We used risk factors for anastomotic leak as a basis of our propensity match which included preoperative smoking, steroid use, preoperative weight loss, preoperative transfusion, hypoalbuminemia, and leukocytosis; intraoperative match variables included indication for surgery, wound class, duration of operation, primary CPT code, elective vs. emergent, and inpatient vs. outpatient surgery. Results: We identified 39,588 patients from the NSQIP database who had a colectomy only or a CWI. The colectomy only group was older (age 63 vs 52 years p < 0.001), overweight (BMI 34 vs 26.7, p < 0.001), more likely to be diabetic (16% vs 9.5%, p < 0.001) and hypertensive (49.3% vs 31.4%). However, the CWI group had higher steroid use (36.8% vs 10%, p < 0.001), preoperative sepsis (13.2% vs 2.5%, p < 0.001), smoking rate (25.7% vs 15.4%, p < 0.001), and preoperative weight loss (12.5% vs 4.9%, p < 0.001). Our propensity analysis matched 2274 colectomy only patients and 758 CWI patients. Baseline demographics were similar between groups. While the mortality rate was similar between groups (1.5% vs 1.8%, p = 0.8), CWI patients had longer length of stay (median 8 vs 7 days, p < 0.001), higher renal injury rates (3.2% vs 0.9%, p < 0.001), higher readmission rates (18.8% vs 11%, p < 0.001) and higher overall NSQIP morbidity (44.5% vs 37.6%, p = 0.001). The anastomotic leak rate was 3.8% in the CWI group and 5.1% in the colectomy only group (p = 0.09). Conclusions: Significant thirty-day morbidity exists with a diverting ileostomy among high-risk colectomy patients with minimal benefit in anastomotic leak rates.