Diverting colostomy is an effective and reversible option for severe hemorrhagic radiation proctopathy

Table 1 Demographics and characteristics

Variable	Diverting colostomy, n = 14	Conservative treatment, n = 25	Colostomy vs conservative, P value	ITT group, n = 50	ITT group vs colostomy, P value
Age, mean ± SD	61 ± 10.9	60.2 ± 2.4	0.89	59.3 ± 8.7	0.767
Sex, female/male	13/1	23/2	1.01	49/1	1.01
Primary cancer			0.405		0.879
Cervical cancer	12	21		45
Endometrial cancer	0	2		2
Rectal cancer	2	1		2
Prostate cancer	0	1		1
Radiation dosage, Gy	82 ± 15.9	83.6 ± 20.5	0.825	83.4 ± 18.5	0.553
Duration of bleeding in mo	13 ± 4.3	8.0 ± 1.8	0.042	11.3 ± 4.0	0.263
Pre-Op transfusion, yes/no	12/2	6/19	< 0.001	-	-
Pre-Op Hb, g/L (lowest level)	63 ± 17.8	88.2 ± 19.3	< 0.001	80 ± 27.8	0.051
Bleeding remission rate
Post-Op 3 mo	12/14 (86%)	1/25 (4%)	< 0.001	-	-
Post-Op 6 mo	12/14 (86%)	3/25 (12%)	< 0.001	-	-
Post-Op 9 mo	13/14 (93%)	5/25 (20%)	< 0.001	-	-
Post-Op 1 yr	14/14 (100%)	6/25 (24%)	< 0.001	-	-
Post-Op 2 yr	14/14 (100%)	5/25 (20%)	< 0.001	-	-
Bleeding score at initial diagnosis	2.7 ± 0.5	2.0 ± 0.5	< 0.001	-	-
Bleeding score after 1 yr of treatment	0.8 ± 0.5	1.7 ± 0.9	0.008	2.4 ± 0.5	0.033

¹Fisher's exact test. ITT: Intention-to-treat; Pre-Op: Pre-operative; Post-Op: Post-operative; Hb: Hemoglobin.