elemental diets role in treatment of high ileostomy output and other gastrointestinal disorders

elemental diets have been used widely in the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders, especially with the management of crohn's disease. this modality of diets provide all essential nutrients, and contain protein in the form of free amino acids that are theoretically easily absorbed. a high output ileostomy is a rare complication of surgery that is difficult to treat. treatments include anti-diarrhoeals, octreotide and proton pump inhibitors. there is very little research regarding the use of elemental diets in the treatment of patients with post-operative with high ileostomy outputs. high output ileostomies are a rare but important complications of stoma formation following bowel surgery. adequate management of high output ileostomies might prevent significant morbidity. in this case report, we describe a patient who was treated with subtotal colectomy for ulcerative colitis and had refractory high ileostomy output despite standard medical therapy. the ileostomy output was dramatically reduced following the introduction of an elemental diet. this case suggests a possible role for the introduction of an elemental diet in the management of high output ileostomies.