Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Elmar W Gerharz.
We report on a 14-year-old girl with pyelonephritis, secondary to a foreign body, in her urinary bladder. A self-inserted pencil led to stone formation and bladder perforation at two sites. Eighteen months after insertion, the pencil was removed by suprapubic cystotomy.
We report the clinical outcome of more than 800 patients, who underwent continent cutaneous urinary diversion with an ileocecal reservoir (Mainz-pouch I) in two urological tertiary referral centers at a mean follow-up of 7.6 years. Complications related to the continence mechanism (intussuscepted ileal nipple vs. submucosally embedded in situ appendix) and the antirefluxive uretero-intestinal anastomosis (submucosal tunnel vs. serosa-lined extramural tunnel) were recorded retrospectively. Stomal stenosis was observed in 23.5% of the patients with appendix stoma and in 15.3% of the patients with intussuscepted ileal nipple. The incidence of calculi was 10.8% in reservoirs with intussuscepted ileal nipple and 5.6% in reservoirs with appendix stoma. Eleven patients (eight with appendix, three with ileal nipple) required reoperation because of ischemic degeneration of the continence mechanism. The overall continence rate (day and night) was 92.8%. Anastomotic strictures of the afferent limb occurred in 6.5% of renal units (RUs) with a submucosal tunnel and in 5.0% of RUs with a serosa-lined extramural tunnel. Continent cutaneous urinary diversion with an ileocecal pouch is a highly satisfactory and safe option for patients, in whom orthotopic urinary diversion is impossible or contraindicated.
The Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome (KTS) is defined as a triad of cutaneous capillary malformations, venous varicosities, bone and soft tissue hemi-hypertrophy. The urinary tract is involved in up to 10%. We report the clinical presentation and surgical management of a 9-year-old boy with extensive lympho-venous malformations of the bladder which led to massive recurrent gross hematuria.
We report on the long-term followup of a mixed dissociative (conversion) disorder after circumcision in childhood.
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PURPOSE: We critically examined the evidence supporting the widely accepted notion that patients undergoing continent urinary tract reconstruction after cystectomy experience superior quality of life outcomes than patients receiving a conduit. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Based on a comprehensive MEDLINE literature search we retrieved and evaluated all full-length articles published in the English, French, German, Italian and Spanish languages comparing conduit diversion with continent cutaneous diversion and/or orthotopic bladder substitution with respect to quality of life or similar concepts. All studies were rated according to the International Consultation on Urological Diseases modification of Oxford Center for Evidence-Based Medicine levels of evidence. RESULTS: The literature on quality of life after radical cystectomy for bladder cancer was rather extensive but generally of questionable quality. The main problems were flaws in the patient materials and methodologies used. To our knowledge not a single randomized, controlled study exists in the field. Because only few articles achieved a level of evidence better than III, the International Consultation on Urological Diseases rating system does not allow further differentiation among studies. Most studies showed that overall quality of life after cystectomy remained good in most patients irrespective of urinary diversion type. CONCLUSIONS: Existing studies are unable to prove that continent reconstruction after radical cystectomy is superior to conduit diversion. This review emphasizes the importance of performing well designed studies in the future.
The interposition of bowel in continuity with the urinary tract has allowed for the preservation of renal function and continence in children with bladder exstrophy, as well as neurogenic and valve bladders. Although bladder augmentation with ileum or colon has been shown to be safe, the long-term effects of metabolic acidosis in addition to abnormalities in linear growth and bone metabolism remain largely unknown. We reviewed the literature to critically examine linear growth in children who have had bladder augmentation with a particular emphasis on the correlation between acid-base status, bone mineralization and growth. The majority of studies suggest that linear growth is not affected by bladder augmentation. In the short-term, children post-augmentation have varying degrees of metabolic acidosis which, overtime, appears to resolve with no affect on linear growth. In a single study, bladder augmentation led to significant bone demineralization almost a decade after surgery, however, even in these children no decrease in linear growth was noted. No alterations in bone density levels were seen with short-term follow-up.
Impaired bone metabolism following urinary diversion through intestinal segments has always been a controversial subject of unclear clinical relevance. Whereas the perpetuated pathophysiological considerations seem conclusive in theory, the role of acidosis and malabsorption is less clear in animal experimentation and, even more so, in the clinical reality of modern continent diversion. In hardly any of the available contemporary case series was overt derangement of the acid-base balance, rickets or osteomalacia encountered. No consistent changes in osteotropic serum parameters could be found with normal calcium and phosphate in all patients. The assumption that colonic reservoirs have a higher risk of developing metabolic bone disease could not be confirmed by clinical data. As early correction of base excess is easy and probably a common policy in patients with intestinal urinary reservoirs, it will be virtually impossible to further study the natural history of bone metabolism after urinary diversion. While there is no need for a bone specific follow-up in asymptomatic adults with a normal acid-base balance, particular attention should be paid to children and to all patients with impaired renal function.
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OBJECTIVES: To report the short to medium-term results of one-stage buccal mucosa ventral onlay in the treatment of recurrent urethral stricture disease. METHODS: Between April 1997 and July 2001, buccal mucosa was used as a ventral onlay graft in 38 patients with recurrent strictures of the bulbar (n = 30) and proximal penile urethra (n = 8). All patients had undergone at least 1 urethrotomy (range 1 to 10; mean 2.9) before reconstruction. Prospective follow-up included a simple questionnaire on patient satisfaction, uroflowmetry, and ultrasound estimation of postvoid residual urine volume and, in the case of recurrence, retrograde urethrography and cystoscopy. RESULTS: The primary success rate at a mean follow-up of 22.8 months (range 8.7 to 40.7) was 80%. Stricture recurred in 7 patients, mostly within 12 months. A distinct residual irregularity at the former stricture site in the initial postoperative urethrogram was predictive of failed reconstruction. A second procedure was performed in 4 patients (1 urethrotomy and 3 re-buccal mucosa onlay grafts) with good results. Patient satisfaction was high in most instances. Three patients refused reoperation, preferring regular intermittent dilation. CONCLUSIONS: When end-to-end anastomosis is impossible, onlay urethroplasty using buccal mucosa is a rather simple alternative with encouraging short to medium-term results in the proximal segments of the male urethra.
We report on the long-term followup of a young woman after total extirpation of the urinary tract for panurothelial cancer with subsequent continent urinary diversion and renal transplantation. If a patient is willing to accept the associated risks, the staged procedure can be a highly satisfactory treatment option. Life-long close surveillance is critical for the success of this concept.
The objective of this review is to examine the published data regarding quality of life (QOL) in patients with bladder cancer. Not a single, randomized controlled trial exists. Most studies are retrospective, cross-sectional, and have serious methodological flaws. There is no single QOL tool preferably used in bladder cancer. While there is no long-term data after therapy for superficial cancer, most investigations compared the impact of different forms of urinary diversion on QOL. In contrast to the prevailing notion that patients who underwent cystectomy undergoing continent urinary reconstruction have superior QOL than those receiving a conduit, existing reports fail to show significant advantages of one technique over the other.
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