Retrograde examination of the small bowel in patients with an ileostomy.

The retrograde small-bowel examination is a convenient method for studying the small bowel in patients with an ileostomy. Adhesions, recurrent Crohn's disease, ileostomy dysfunction due to prestomal narrowing, and obstruction due to neoplasm are demonstrable. The technique described is faster than the peroral examination or enteroclysis, does not cause patient discomfort, and produces a rapid examination of the entire small bowel in any patient with an ileostomy.