Functional and Objective Results of Urinary Undiversions in Oncologic Patients

To review surgical outcomes in urinary undiversions and describe short and long-term complications.

Retrospective review of patients who underwent urinary undiversion in our institution between May 2010 and May 2016. Complications were graded according to the Clavien classification. All patients completed the Patient Global Impression of Improvement questionnaire to indicate overall satisfaction with urinary undiversion.

Median time from the cystectomy to undiversion was 29 months (range 11-53 months). Five patients (55%) reported significant distress related to the ileal conduit and were undiverted into an orthotopic neobladder. A female patient with an orthotopic neobladder and severe urinary incontinence received neobladder neck closure and catheterizable channel. Another female patient with an orthotopic neobladder was undiverted into an Indiana Pouch. Complications during the first 60 days were mostly minor, Clavien I (1 patient), 5 patients Clavien II, and a patient with Clavien IIIb. Patient Global Impression of Improvement questionnaire scores showed that 6 patients (67%) felt "Very much better" and 3 patients (33%) felt "Much better" after urinary undiversion 60%.

After urinary undiversions, minor complication rate is high, and major complication rate is considerable. Urinary undiversions are a highly complex, yet feasible procedure, which requires experienced multidisciplinary teams and demands appropriate patient selection. Patients, after undiversions show a high degree of satisfaction with long-term satisfactory outcomes, which points out the need for consideration for these procedures once the oncologic disease is controlled.