[A rare complication of disk surgery: ureteral fistula. Apropos of a case following counter-lateral laminectomy]. / Une complication rare de la chirurgie discale: la fistule urétérale. A propos d'un cas après laminectomie contro-latérale.

The authors report a new case (to be added to the 10 already published in the literature) of damage to the ureter during surgical treatment of a herniated disc. Instruments seeking the hernia perforate the prevertebral ligament and damage the ureter. The diagnosis should have been made rapidly in the light of a difficult postoperative course, the discovery of a pre and laterovertebral effusion by echography and the presence of haematuria and pyuria. In fact the diagnosis was made late, by urography, in the presence of a mass in the flank. Attempted treatment by insertion of a uretic catheter failed and the situation was finally resolved by a second end-to-end ureterorrhaphy after mobilisation of the kidney. The possibility of damage to the ureter during surgery for a disc hernia and the therapeutic possibilities with preservation of the kidney when the diagnosis is made sufficiently early should be familiar to all: neurosurgeon, orthopaedic surgeon and urologist.