The Malone antegrade continence enema adapting a transanal irrigation system in patients with neurogenic bowel dysfunction.

INTRODUCTION: Patients with severe neurogenic bowel dysfunction (NBD) may undergo the Malone antegrade continence enema (MACE) surgery to perform antegrade bowel irrigation (ABI). The standard approach may be prevented by a previous appendectomy or complicated by appendicular stenoses and/or stomal leakages. We present the experience by our tertiary referral center for NBD, adopting a modified surgical technique, based on a neoappendix with the terminal ileum to preserve the natural anti-reflux mechanism of the ileocecal valve and avoid stool leakage, and a largely available transanal irrigation (TAI) system to catheterize the neoappendix and perform ABI. CASE PRESENTATION: Three individuals with NBD successfully underwent our modified MACE program. Case 1 had cauda equina syndrome. He underwent surgery at 40. Case 2 was a man who suffered from spinal cord dysfunction due to acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, functionally T12 AIS B, at 57. Case 3 was a man with traumatic L1 AIS B paraplegia. At 60 he underwent surgery after 29 years since the injury. He needed a surgical revision due to a postoperative subcutaneous infection. After 121, 84 and 14 months from surgery, the three individuals performed ABI every 2 days, presented functional stomas, had no fecal incontinence, and reported an NBD score of 6, compared to 40, 33 and 35 pre-operatively. DISCUSSION: To our knowledge, this is the first report of MACE combining a tapered terminal ileum conduit and an adapted TAI system. Our approach proved to be a safe and effective strategy for severe NBD avoiding a colostomy.

A consecutive series of patients undergoing trans-urethral cystolithotripsy with ballistic lithotripsy by a tertiary referral center for neurogenic bladder.

Background and aim of the work Patients with neurogenic bladder (NB) have an increased risk of developing bladder stones due to bladder catheter, incomplete bladder emptying, recurrent urinary tract infections, and immobilization. In these patients, minimally invasive treatments are usually adopted, as noninvasive extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy is limited by the risk of not clearing all stone fragments, and open surgery is usually discouraged. The aim of our study was to present our experience with trans-urethral cystolithotripsy (TUCL) in patients treated by a tertiary referral center for NB. Methods We retrospectively collected pre-, intra- and post-operative data from our patients, who underwent TUCL from October 2013 to October 2019. The procedure was performed with a 24 Fr cystoscope and a ballistic lithotripter. Lapaxy was performed with Ellik bladder evacuator. All procedures were performed by two expert surgeons. Stone-free rate (SFR) was defined as the percentage of patients with absence of residual fragments > 2 mm in diameter. Results We performed consecutively 90 TUCLs in 75 patients during the selected period. SFR was 94.1%. Intra- and post-operative complications occurred in one (1.1%) patient. Our statistical analysis outlined the SFR was affected in a statistically significant way by sex, NB etiology, stone cumulative diameter, and operative time. Conclusion Our series proved the safety and efficacy of TUCL with ballistic lithotripsy in NB patients. Further multicenter randomized controlled trials are mandatory to validate definitively TUCL as the gold standard therapy for bladder urolithiasis in NB patients, and to identify risk factors limiting the SFR.

Treatment of Stress Urinary Incontinence in Neurological Patients With an Injectable Elastomer Prosthesis: Preliminary Results.

Many treatment options for stress urinary incontinence are difficult to apply to neurological patients. Urolastic is a new agent that is primarily indicated for women with mild stress urinary incontinence or men after prostate surgery. In this report, we present a series of 5 cases describing the first use of Urolastic to treat neurological patients. All patients were evaluated with a voiding diary and the use of auxiliary devices as the main indicators of continence. The median operative time was 30.8 minutes, and no complications were observed. Of the 5 patients, 4 reported improved incontinence: 2 switched from diapers to small pads, while the other 2 patients were able to discontinue urinary condom use. The only instance of treatment failure occurred in a patient with a low-compliance bladder. The advantages of this procedure appear to include a soft-cuff effect, reversibility, and minimal invasiveness. However, a future randomized study would be necessary to validate this treatment option.