Nursing methods for artificial anus in patients with colorectal cancer

Depending on the condition of the intestinal cancer patient, some people need to undergo artificial anus surgery to reconstruct an artificial intestinal opening for excretion. In order to truly improve the patient's quality of life, the conventional care methods of artificial anus should be mastered.

1. Local skin care: 2-3 days after surgery, open the colostomy. First, clean the skin around the colostomy with a saline cotton ball and apply zinc oxide ointment to prevent the excreted stool from soaking the skin and causing dermatitis. When the stool is formed and regular, you can only use clean water to wash the skin and keep it dry and clean.

2. Bag changing method : Since the artificial anus does not have the contraction function of the normal anus, the patient has no feeling and cannot control defecation in the early stage, so an artificial anus bag is used. It is advisable to sit when changing the bag, and the feces in the bag should be dumped and cleaned in time to avoid infection and reduce odor; when removing the anal bag, it should be gently lifted from the upper ring to prevent damage to the skin.

3. Protection of stoma fistula: After the stool is formed and the patient develops the habit of regular bowel movements, he can cover the stoma with a cotton pad and fix it with a bandage after defecation every day.

4. Anal dilation care method: After the artificial anus is opened for 1 week, the patient should be assisted to practice anal dilation to relax the perianal muscles, keep the artificial anus unobstructed, and avoid anal stenosis caused by abdominal muscle contraction and intestinal retraction, which may cause difficulty in defecation. The method is: wear a glove and insert the index finger into the anus about 4 cm, 1 to 2 minutes/time, once a day. When inserting the finger, do not be rough and too deep to prevent intestinal perforation; when dilating the anus, the patient can open his mouth and exhale to prevent increased abdominal pressure.

Tips: What is artificial anus surgery?

Artificial anus surgery is also called enterostomy. It means that due to treatment needs, the doctor first makes an opening in the patient's abdominal wall, then pulls a section of intestine out of the abdominal cavity and fixes the intestinal opening on the abdominal wall for the excretion of feces. The feces can be collected in a special plastic bag attached to the opening.

According to the location of the stoma in the intestine, it can be divided into ileostomy, cecostomy and colostomy (transverse colon, sigmoid colostomy); according to the number of stomas, it can be divided into single-lumen stoma and double-lumen stoma; according to the purpose of the stoma, it can be divided into temporary stoma and permanent stoma, etc.