Continent urinary reservoirs

We report our experience of 30 continent urinary reservoirs (CURs) after radical cystectomy. The patients ranged in age from 35 to 70 years. There were 22 males and 8 females. Pre-operative urograms showed normal upper tracts in 22 patients, unilateral hydronephrosis in 4 and bilateral hydronephrosis in 4. The first 20 patients had a standard CUR procedure and the last 10 had a modified CUR. The mean operative time, blood loss and post-operative stay were 6.6 h, 900 ml and 25 days respectively for standard CURs and 5.7 h, 825 ml and 21 days respectively for the modified CURs. Post-operative, urinary leaks from the caecostomy site occurred in 2 patients (1 of which was fatal) while 3 other patients had prolonged ileus, burst abdomen and intestinal obstruction probably due to non-demonstrable urinary leaks. All 5 complications occurred in the first 20 patients. Upper tract status was evaluated in 28 patients 3 months after surgery and showed normal upper tracts in 19 patients, improvement in 6 (35%) and worsening in 3 (12.5%). Pouchograms showed no reflux in 25 patients, unilateral reflux in 2 and bilateral reflux in 1. Complete continence was achieved in 25 patients--2 of them had revision surgery, giving a success rate of 89% with a follow-up of 6 to 48 months (median 24). The remaining 3 patients were incontinent.