DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I’ve heard of stents being used to treat heart disease, but recently I saw a news story that talked about using stents as an alternative to colostomy in people who have colon cancer.

An ileostomy and a colostomy are both forms of ostomy surgery. Although they are similar, ileostomies and colostomies involve different parts of the bowel. Ostomy surgery, or bowel diversion, is a ...

Doctors may recommend a colostomy if the bowel becomes diseased or damaged. This procedure involves cutting into the abdominal wall to drain stool from the colon. Any surgery ending in “ostomy” ...

Colostomy surgery is a procedure where the colon or large intestine is diverted to an artificial opening on the lower section of the wall of the abdomen so that it can expel out fecal matter to the ...