Myectomy reduces ileal motility after ileoanal anastomosis

The hypothesis tested was that myectomy of the distal ileum would produce a long‐lasting decrease in ileal motility, and so render single‐lumen ileum more suitable for use as a rectal substitute in the course of restorative proctocolectomy, without the need for a pelvic ileal reservoir. Ileal motility, both spontaneous and in response to intraluminal volatile fatty acids (VFA), was studied after procto‐colectomy in 25 female adult beagles, at least 6 months after ileoanal anastomosis alone (IAA, n = 6), IAA with myectomy (n = 8), IAA with myectomy and an ileal valve (n = 5) or IAA with a duplicated (J) ileal reservoir (n = 6). VFA were found to stimulate ileal motility significantly in each group. Myectomy significantly reduced the number of ileal contractions (P < 0.01), the mean amplitude of contractions (P < 0.05) and the motility index (P < 0.01). The addition of the valve to myectomy made no significant difference.