Combined abdominal and vaginal approach for bladder neck closure and permanent suprapubic tube: urinary diversion in the neurologically impaired woman

Abstract

Chronic indwelling Foley catheter placement in the neurologically impaired patient can lead to pressure necrosis of the urethra with incontinence. We report on 2 series of patients who underwent bladder neck closure and insertion of a suprapubic catheter for this problem. Our initial group includes 4 patients who underwent 5 transvaginal procedures, of which 2 (40%) were successful. Subsequently, we modified our approach, and used a combined abdominal and transvaginal repair, which was successful in 10 consecutive patients with a followup of 6 to 40 months (mean 15.6).