The effect of ageing on function and quality of life in ileal pouch patients: a single cohort experience of 409 patients with chronic ulcerative colitis.

Ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA) is the surgical treatment of choice for patients requiring proctocolectomy for chronic ulcerative colitis (CUC), because the goals of eliminating disease and preserving fecal continence are achieved in the great majority of patients. Over the past 2 decades, several analyses from this1–4 and other institutions5–8 have shown that IPAA is a safe and effective operation for patients with CUC; bowel functional generally is acceptable, and quality of life (QoL) is good and comparable to that of the general population.9 However, these observations are based for the most part on the results of gathered within 5 to 8 years of operation among groups of patients followed for variable lengths of time. Whether these outcomes remain durable is unknown. Furthermore, follow-up in IPAA patients must still be considered short term, as most of the patients undergoing pouch surgery are young and have life expectancies of another 40 to 50 years. Our aim, therefore, was to evaluate functional outcome and QoL in a single cohort of patients with CUC followed annually for 15 years after IPAA. Such a longitudinal study of outcomes, in which the same patients are followed sequentially over time, provides a unique set of data which should provide a clear picture of the effect of time and ageing on the function of ileal pouches.