[Repair of large urogenital necrosis of obstetrical origin by pedicled myocutaneous plasty of the greater lip. Technique and results]

Abstract

The vesicovaginal fistulae encountered in Africa are a real plague. Their origin is obstetrical as a rule, and they occur in young women, often in primiparas. They are seldom simple as they have been operated repeatedly and involve associated lesions and a large loss of substance, so that they raise complex problems of repair. The experience with the treatment of 230 obstetrical fistulae by the same surgeon in Africa leads the author to describe a repair technique fit for complex fistulae, especially those involving an extensive loss of substance and associated lesions (rectovaginal fistula, perineal destruction). With a low approach, the procedure consists in using a filler tissue, namely a skin flap removed from a greater lip, for which the vasculature is maintained by the preservation of a thick musculous and fatty pedicle, cut from the fibers of the bulbocavernosus muscle. Once sutured around the orifice of the fistula, this graft closes it while fostering its healing. Out of the 14 patients treated with this technique, the results achieved were regarded as good for 10 (72%), including 7 after a first operation and 3 after second surgery. In 9 cases, there were associated lesions, including 5 rectovaginal fistulae and 4 cases of complete tearing of the perineum. We have had 4 failures, including 3 definitive ones, and a partial failure with the persistence of urine incontinence in station due to be destruction of the ureter. When the simpler Martius' procedure (on which ours is patterned) is no longer sufficient, the use of a pedicled skin-fat graft taken from the greater lip allows considerably restricting the indications of palliative surgery. Our technique increases the percentage of success for fistulae regarded as irreparable or after the usual repair procedures have failed.