ELECTIVE COLOSTOMY CLOSURE IN AN AIDS PATIENT

This article describes a 27-year-old patient with acquired immunodefic iency syndrome (AIDS) who underwent emergency sigmoid colostomy, Hartm ann's pouch, and presacral drainage for rectal perforation. Three mont hs later, he underwent uneventful elective colostomy closure, a proced ure previously unreported in an AIDS patient. He remained without gast rointestinal symptoms for 14 months after colostomy closure until he d ied from central nervous system toxoplasmosis. A diagnosis of AIDS alo ne should not preclude colostomy closure in AIDS patients.