Hartmann's procedure for obstructive carcinoma of the left colon and rectum: a comparative study with one-stage surgery.

Introduction And Objectives: Despite the criticisms from prestigious expert committees, a high percentage of surgeons continue to use, as the technique-of-choice, Hartmann's procedure for acute malignant intestinal obstruction of the distal colon and rectum, without faecal peritonitis. We have reviewed our results with this technique and compared them with other series of patients in the literature undergoing one-stage surgery (resection with primary anastomosis or sub-total colectomy).

Material And Methods: A retrospective and descriptive study using clinical histories and, from which, the variables studied were: median hospitalisation stay, morbido-mortality and reconstruction index.