The Cleveland Clinic Digestive Disease Institute’s Department of Colorectal Surgery began offering J-pouch surgery in 1983 and performs about 200 IPAA surgeries per year, having performed more than 3,600 to date. Cleveland Clinic has not only completed the greatest number of pouch surgeries of any hospital in the world, it also has the lowest pouch failure rate reported by any institution. If you’re willing to travel, go where you get the best. My husband had his j-pouch surgery in 1994 by Dr. Fazio at the Cleveland Clinic and has never had pouchitis.