During a partial colectomy, a surgeon removes the diseased portion of your colon and a small portion of surrounding healthy tissue. The surgeon may join the cut ends of the colon so that waste leaves your body normally. Or it might be necessary to connect the colon to an opening (stoma) in the abdominal wall, where waste leaves the body and collects in a bag attached to the opening. A stoma is usually temporary, but is sometimes permanent.
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