A retrospective study on female urological surgeries over the 10 years following spinal cord lesion

To evaluate the efficacy and safety over a 10-year period of any urological operations required by female patients with spinal cord lesions (SCLs).

Retrospective study of urological surgeries from our database performed on females with SCLs from 2001 to 2002. Surgery efficacy for neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunctions (N-LUTDs) was evaluated by comparing 7-day voiding diaries pre- and post-surgeries, while individual investigations were done pre- and post-surgery to evaluate urological complications. Drawbacks were assessed.

Thirty-eight out of 69 patients underwent one or more urological procedures. Twenty-one out of 42 patients with suprasacral lesions underwent interventions for N-LUTD. The main surgical treatment was endoscopic detrusor infiltration of botulinum-A (Botox 300 UI or Dysport 750 UI) performed 107 times on 15 subjects using aseptic intermittent catheterizations for neurogenic overactive bladder. Mean efficacy duration was 9.2 months. Six females with infrasacral lesions underwent at least one intervention for N-LUTD. Two females in each group underwent tension-free vaginal tape for stress urinary incontinence (SUI), reducing episodes per week of SUI by >90% after 5 years. The most serious urological complication was active vesico-ureteral reflux (VUR) in three patients, treated endoscopically with submucosal injection of Macroplastique. No VUR recurrence was detected during a 6-year follow-up. All bladder stones (five cases) and renal calculi (five cases) were treated with endoscopic transurethrally electrohydraulic lithotripsy and extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy, respectively. Overall, no serious drawbacks were observed.

Mini-invasive surgeries were exclusively used to address urological issues in chronic SCL patients.