Temporary high diversion for posterior urethral valves

Temporary high diversion for posterior urethral valves remains controversial. Even in the most severe cases some physicians deny the efficacy of this treatment. They assert that high diversion does not change the outcome of kidney function and has an iatrogenic, deleterious effect on the bladder. We believe that these 2 assertions may be inaccurate.

We evaluated 17 of 120 boys with posterior urethral valves who underwent temporary high diversion via Sober-en-T ureterostomy. This procedure immediately decompresses the upper urinary tract and leaves the bladder functional. Mean duration of diversion was 13 months. Bladder function results were good and diversion clearly had no deleterious effect. However, our series was too small to conclude with certainty that renal function improved due to diversion and not to valve resection only. Rapid improvement in creatinine was noted in all cases after diversion.

In this study we reviewed opposing opinions. It appears clearly evident that physicians who believe that ureterostomy creates a valve bladder are considering only loop diversion, which temporarily defunctionalizes the bladder. On the contrary, Sober-en-T diversion preserves bladder cycling. In addition, those who report poor kidney function after high diversion fail to mention that this procedure is usually performed only in the most severe cases.

For severe cases of posterior urethral valves one should not hesitate to create temporary high diversion, which may possibly improve renal function. Sober-en-T ureterostomy does not damage the bladder.