One of the greatest advances in colorectal surgery has been the development of restorative proctocolectomy for patients with inflammatory colitides and familial adenomatous polyposis. The construction of pelvic pouch allows the entire excision of the colon while maintaining transanal fecal continence. When this procedure became first the standard of care, little was known about the short- versus long-term metabolic consequences of this operation. We began prospective studies investigating surgical complications, function of the pouches, consequences of the pouch mucosa in the ...