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J-pouch: Overview
J-pouch is a type of surgery to relieve symptoms of ulcerative colitis when medicines don't work.
During surgery, the large intestine (colon) and rectum are removed. The end of the small intestine is made into a J-shaped pouch. This pouch is connected to the anus to allow bowel movements to pass through the anus.
Sometimes the pouch needs time to heal. For a few months, you might need an opening (stoma) in your abdomen to let stool pass into an ostomy bag.
Once the J-pouch has healed, another surgery is done to close the stoma so stool can pass through the J-pouch and out the anus.
After J-pouch surgery, some people have belly cramping, stools that come more often, and uncontrolled stools.
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