Different Types Of Urinary Diversions

In this article, we will talk about urostomy and different types of urinary diversions.

Urostomy

An opening in the abdomen to pass out urine by diverting it away from a diseased or removed urinary bladder is known as a urostomy. The surgeon creates this opening during a surgical procedure aimed at removing the diseased bladder. The opening in the abdomen is known as a stoma.

There are three types of urinary diversions. We will discuss each of them briefly.

The Indiana pouch

An Indiana pouch, which is a type of continent pouch, consists of a resected segment of the small intestine, a part of the ascending colon, and the cecum. This pouch holds urine, and when it is full, you need to insert a catheter in it through an opening in the abdomen to draw urine out of it. The valve, made of the ileum, prevents urine from flowing out of the body. The reason you need catheters to remove urine from this pouch is that it doesn’t squeeze like a bladder.

The ileal conduit

The urinary diversion made of the section of the ileum is known as the ileal conduit. It is the conventional urostomy that needs a pouch outside the body to collect urine. Ileal conduit surgery first involves the removal of a segment of the ileum. The surgeon closes off one end of that segment and pulls the other end through an incision in the belly to create a stoma. Next, he sews two ureters to the closed end of the ileum’s segment. This segment serves as a sort of reservoir, but it doesn’t hold urine. It just passes out urine to the outside of the body where a plastic pouch is present to collect urine.

The Neobladder

After removing the bladder, your surgeon may opt to create a neobladder. This internal reservoir consists of parts of the intestines, but it is different from other urinary diversions from the sense that it takes place of the natural bladder. This way, you do not need a stoma to expel urine.

This surgically created bladder connects with both ureters and the urethra, allowing you to urinate using the natural excretory pathway. The neobladder will collect urine from kidneys through ureters and pass it to the urethra, from where it will leave the body.

Because this surgically-created bladder doesn’t have the muscles that squeeze a bladder to expel urine, you may face issues such as leakage and other complications, but your body will adapt to this change over time. After that, you will be able to expel urine just as you would do with a natural urinary tract.

All these urinary diversions may cause complications during the recovery phase after surgery, so you may want to stay in touch with your doctor or ostomy care nurse.