Stomal complications of ileal conduits are significantly higher when formed in women with intractable urinary incontinence.

PURPOSE

The ileal conduit is held to be the safest and simplest form of urinary diversion. There are few reports about long-term problems after ileal conduit formation, especially intractable urinary incontinence in females. We reviewed long-term stomal complications in patients with an ileal conduit.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Notes on 93 consecutive patients in whom an ileal conduit was created were reviewed. Information was collected on patient demographics, indications for an ileal conduit and long-term complications, in particular parastomal and incisional hernias, stomal retraction, stenosis or prolapse and the development of a redundant loop. Mean followup available was 63.4 months (range 1 to 434).

RESULTS

A total of 33 males with a mean age of 60.1 years (range 2 to 78) and 60 females with a mean age of 48.2 years (range 4 to 79) underwent ileal conduit diversion. The main indications for an ileal conduit were intractable incontinence in 44 patients (47%), cancer in 31 (33%) and interstitial cystitis in 8 (9%). In male, continent female and incontinent female patients A parastomal hernia developed in 3 (9%), 2 (9.5%) and 12 (31%), an incisional hernia developed in 1 (3%), 1 (4.8%) and 2 (5%), stomal retraction developed in 0, 2 (9.5%) and 12 (31%), stomal stenosis developed in 0 (0%), 1 (4.8%) and 6 (15.4%), and a redundant loop developed in 0 (0%), 2 (9.5%) and 5 (12.8%), respectively. A total of 23 patients (24.7%) required further surgery for stomal problems with 13 (57%) requiring more than 1 reoperation, of whom 9 were incontinent females.

CONCLUSIONS

An ileal conduit is associated with a stomal complication rate of 34.4% (61% in incontinent females and 18% in other patients) and a 4.3% incisional hernia rate. Reoperation is required for stomal complications in 24.7% of cases. Stomal complication rates and reoperation rates vary by sex and the indication for ileal conduit, and they are significantly higher for those performed for intractable urinary incontinence in females.