[Vesicovaginal fistula in Africa. 230 cases]

Abstract

The author reports 230 cases of vesico-vaginal fistula taken from a series of 271 obstetrical fistulae treated by the same operator. The fistula was obstetrical in most cases (93 percent), occurring in young women and primiparas. Associated lesions (urethro-vaginal, recto-vaginal and perineal) were observed in 23.4 percent of the patients. Also studied were 7 pure urethro-vaginal fistulae and 2 urethro-vesical fistulae. Surgical treatment, usually (85.6 percent) through the lower route, consisted of closing the orifice of the fistula by simple separate sutures performed on the bladder and the vagina (Chassar Moir) in 95 cases. A filler tissue, a muscular and fatty pedicle flap (Martius technique), was used in 55 cases. Complementary techniques were considered indispensable in 49 cases. Eighteen patients underwent palliative surgery. Among 230 fistula patients whose postoperative follow-up ranged from 6 months to 1 year, 180 (80 percent) were considered cured (no incontinence and recovery of mictional function), and 17 were considered partially cured (sphincteral leakage during efforts); there were 29 failures. Far from being eradicated in Africa, vesico-vaginal fistulae continue to be one of the major public health problems, with an average annual prevalence of 2 percent. This critical situation is due to different social, economic, traditional and cultural factors which stay firmly inalterable. There is a need for a fistula management strategy based on a classification of the lesions encountered to increase the chances of success. The author describes the main prognostic and therapeutic groups: simple fistulae where success was obtained as a rule (group I, 33 percent of the cases in this series); difficult fistulae (group II, 43 percent), with the dual problem of attaining watertightness and healing, where the support of a well-vascularized filler tissue has proved necessary (Martius); complex fistulae (group III, 23.9 percent), where the associated lesions call for several urological, genital and gastrointestinal operations. Complete anatomical destruction of the urethra, accompanied by sclerous atresia of the genital tract, marks the limit of surgical possibilities of repair, beyond which palliative surgery has to be accepted.