Justification of the diagnostic algorithm and treatment strategies in patients with severe chronic slow-transit constipation

Surgical treatment of patients with chronic slow-transit constipation leads to unsatisfactory results in almost a third of cases. It appears relevant to the search for the causes of unsatisfactory results of surgical interventions in such patients and the need to develop a rational diagnostic algorithm; its implementation will allow us to determine the indications for surgical treatment and justify the volume of colon resection. For this purpose, the results of the examination and treatment of 53 patients with constipation were analyzed. The median disease duration was 15 years, and the median duration of constipation was 6.2 ± 1.6 days. Patients were divided into a group with a positive effect of conservative treatment and a group without the expected effect. The symptoms, results of laboratory tests of blood and feces, and instrumental studies of the colon were analyzed. A balloon expulsion test was used to exclude proctogenic constipation. The evacuation function of the colon was studied by X-ray examination, while the transit time of barium sulfate or X-ray contrast markers through the gastrointestinal tract was estimated. Twenty-four patients underwent surgery for chronic slow-transit constipation, while the sigmoid colon was removed in one patient, including 7-left-sided hemicolectomy and 16-subtotal resection of the colon. Long-term results were examined in the period from 3 to 6 months after surgery. In the total examination of the semiotics of chronic slow-transit constipation, the results did not show significant differences between the groups of patients and did not allow us to justify the stratification into severe and non-severe disease course by its specific symptoms. The use of X-ray contrast markers for the assessment of the state of the evacuation function of the colon makes it possible to quantify the severity of various motor disorders and justify the choice of the volume of its resection. The analysis of the long-term results of the treatment of patients with chronic slow-transit constipation allows us to conclude that segmental resections of the colon (left-sided hemicolectomy, resection of the sigmoid colon) have a good therapeutic effect if the preoperative examination revealed a “segmental” type of failure of the evacuation function of the colon, and subtotal resection of the colon is appropriate for the “common” type. The absence of negative results of surgical treatment of patients with chronic slow-transit constipation, in which the formation of a colonic anastomosis was performed with a short stump of the sigmoid colon, indicates the possibility of using this option to complete the surgical intervention.