Laparoscopic Bladder Surgery for Spina Bifida Patients

In a recent study, a team of surgeons developed and successfully used a laparoscopic method for young spina bifida patients who needed bladder surgery. The team presented the study at the 2001 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons in New Orleans (LA, USA).

Some spina bifida patients have bladders that are not able to contract and empty on their own. To aid patients not dexterous enough to catheterize themselves through the urethra, the surgeons developed a procedure to allow them to catheterize themselves through a more easily accessible location in the lower abdomen—surgery usually performed in an open procedure.

During the laparoscopic technique, surgeons separate the appendix and the right side of the large intestine from the body wall and disconnect the appendix from the large intestine, keeping its blood supply intact. They then connect one end of the appendix to the bladder and the other end to the skin near or in the navel. Thus, the appendex becomes a tunnel extending from the skin to the bladder and can be used by patients to insert a catheter and eliminate urine. The procedure was originally intended for patients who needed bladder reconstruction after cancer surgery.

"Children as young as five years of age are often ideal candidates for laparoscopic surgery,” said Dr. Randy Fagin, part of the surgical team from Upstate Medical University Hospital (Syracuse, NY, USA). "Because of the smaller incisions, the patients' time to recover and time in the hospital are shorter, and their postoperative pain is considerably less.”



Related Links:
Upstate Medical Univ.