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Updated: Aug 10, 2026
Vessel-sparing Excision and Primary Anastomosis
Published on: January 7, 2019
Bladder neck reconstruction: long-term followup of reconstruction with omentum and silicone sheath
G F Quimby1, D A Diamond, Y Mor
1Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom.
Purpose:
In 1986 we reported the placement of a silicone sheath sandwiched between layers of omentum around a newly reconstructed bladder neck. We now present long-term followup of 94 cases of silicone sheath bladder neck reconstruction.
Materials And Methods:
A total of 94 silicone sheaths was placed in 84 patients between August 1983 and October 1992. We retrospectively reviewed our results and divided the reconstructions into 3 groups according to modifications in surgical technique. We report the results of each modification and current recommendations for use.
Results:
Each sequential modification of silicone sheath bladder neck reconstruction significantly reduced the risk of erosion from 100%, 32% and 7%, respectively (p < 0.05). Erosion was independent of patient age, sex, pathological condition or whether bladder neck reconstruction was a repeat procedure. Patients who had silicone sheath erosion did not have different continence or loss of urethral continuity than those with no erosion. In 13 patients (16%) artificial sphincter placement was clearly facilitated by the silicone sheath.
Conclusions:
Modifications in the surgical technique of silicone sheath placement around a reconstructed bladder neck have resulted in a decrease in the erosion rate to 7%. The primary benefit of silicone sheath placement is ease of subsequent sphincter placement. Currently we reserve silicone sheath placement for a small subset of patients who are most likely to benefit from subsequent artificial sphincter placement.
