This complicated treatment requires significant preparation, a lengthy hospital stay, as well as lifestyle changes afterward.

What Is Hartmanns Procedure?

In cancer cases, this procedure is most often an emergency surgery.

Surgery is not the preferred initial treatment for mild-to-moderate cases of diverticulitis.

The healthcare provider may first prescribe antibiotics and recommend lifestyle adjustments to treat the condition before indicating surgery.

Both open and less-invasive laparoscopic techniques can be used to perform Hartmanns procedure.

They then re-route the healthy portion of the digestive tract through the abdomen and connect it to the skin.

Finally, the healthy portion of the remaining colon is sealed.

The incision (for open surgery) or multiple incisions (for laparoscopy) are then stitched shut.

However, this procedure is often done emergently.

In such cases, the benefit of surgery is determined to outweigh the risks.

These arise due to several conditions:

Critical to the success of Hartmans procedure is proper testing and diagnosis.

These include:

Your surgeon may have specific instructions for you; be sure to follow their recommendations closely.

Heres what happens:

During the Surgery

Hartmanns procedure takes anywhere from two to four hours.

Specific techniques vary between laparoscopic and open surgery approaches, with the former becoming the more frequently preferred option.

What can you expect?

As you recover, youll need to gradually increase activity, taking

When can you go home?

If surgical staples were used in the procedure, youll come in to have those removed.

In cases of colon cancer, youll also need a biopsy or other tests as directed by your surgeon.

Whats the recovery timeline look like?

When can you resume your normal activities?

You and your healthcare provider will talk about your options.

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