Abstract

To the ileostomist who asks, `Am I as healthy as the rest of the population', the answer can be a qualified affirmative. There is probably an increased likelihood of his developing calculi in the urinary tract but, apart from this, there is no suggestion of diseases of a general nature to which he is more subject than another individual of comparable age. If the surgery has been undertaken for ulcerative colitis in the absence of malignant change and the patient has survived one postoperative year, then an assurance can be given that life expectancy is little less than that in the general population.