Two-year outcomes after diagnostic and therapeutic fetal cystoscopy for lower urinary tract obstruction

Our objective is to report long-term outcome after fetal cystoscopy for lower urinary tract obstruction (LUTO), as well as to investigate the accuracy of fetal cystoscopy in diagnosing the cause of bladder outlet obstruction.

This is a retrospective cohort study of all fetuses who underwent cystoscopy for prenatal diagnosis of LUTO in three tertiary referral centers. Fetal diagnostic cystoscopy was performed to determine prenatally the cause of LUTO and to ablate the posterior urethral valves (PUV).

A total of 50 fetal cystoscopies were performed, revealing PUV in 31 (62%) fetuses, urethral atresia (UA) in 14 (28%) fetuses, and urethral stenosis (US) in 5 (10%) fetuses. Two fetuses had trisomy 18 diagnosed after fetal cystoscopy and were excluded from the present analysis. Fetal cystoscopy was accurate in the diagnosis of the etiology of LUTO in 32/35 (91.4%). There were no survivors in the UA group. One fetus with US underwent urethral stenting and survived with normal renal function at 2 years of life. Among the infants with PUV, 17/30 (56.7%) infants survived, and 13/17 (76.5%) had normal renal function at 1 year of life; 15/28 (53.6%) infants survived, and 11/15 (73.3%) had normal renal function at 2 years.

Fetal cystoscopy is accurate in the diagnosis of the etiology of LUTO and serves as a guide to the specific prenatal treatment. This procedure is associated with modest long-term survival (54%) but with adequate preserved normal renal function in two thirds of the infants among fetuses with PUV.