Surgical management of ulcerative colitis

As long as our understanding of ulcerative colitis is too limited to allow a more specific, disease-targeted treatment, surgery will play an important role in the management of these patients. Careful interdisciplinary evalua tion and counselling of patients with ulcerative colitis will permit to ach ieve the goals on an individual basis with maximum safety. Restorative proc tocolectomy with an IPAA has evolved as the procedure of choice among four basic surgical options because it appears to be safe and carries a low mort ality. Although the associated morbidity is not negligible, functional resu lts are generally good and patient satisfaction is high.