Cutaneous ureterostomy as last resort treatment of intractable haemorrhagic cystitis following radiation.

Sixteen patients with severe intractable haemorrhagic cystitis following radiotherapy, two of them with bleeding tumours, were treated surgically by cutaneous ureterostomy with or without contralateral nephrectomy. They had undergone various forms of conservative treatment and were treated by surgery only when conservative therapy had failed. In these poor risk patients a cutaneous ureterostomy was employed as a lesser procedure than an ileal loop. Of the 16 who underwent urinary diversion 11 were completely free of haemorrhage and three continued to have slight intermittent haematuria.