Bladder washout and stone formation in paediatric enterocystoplasty

To review the incidence of stone formation in our patients with enterocystoplasty to determine the effect of regular bladder washout.

From 1988 to 1995, a prospective cohort of 30 children underwent enteroplasty with continent diversion. Over the same period, a consecutive group of 30 children had an augmentation alone. All were instructed to wash out their bladder on a weekly basis with sterile water. The frequency of the washouts increased if there were problems with increasing mucus production. Their incidence of stone formation has been compared to a similar group of 30 children performing clean intermittent self catheterisation (CISC) on their native bladders.

Five (17%) children with continent diversions formed bladder stones (mean time to formation 35 months, range 13-59 months) were compared with 2 (7%) of children with augmentation. No child performing CISC alone formed stones.

A regime of regular bladder washout in children with enterocystoplasty did not significantly reduce the incidence of stone formation when compared to previously published data.