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TOPLINE
More than one third of children who received surgery to treat ureterocele had lower urinary tract dysfunction years later, especially after reconstructive surgery.
METHODOLOGY
- Researchers reviewed electronic medical records of children with ureterocele from 2002 to 2021 and had treatments like reconstructive bladder surgery or endoscopic incision to assess postsurgical bladder function.
- They used a 10-question survey to assess voiding symptoms and considered total scores above 9 to be indicative of significant dysfunction of the lower urinary tract.
- Seventy patients treated at a tertiary center completed the survey, representing 57% of eligible patients. The median age at survey completion was 10.5 years (67% girls) with a median follow-up duration of 5.6 years.
- Secondary outcomes included differences by demographics, ureterocele features, and surgical interventions.
TAKEAWAY
- Overall, 38.6% of respondents had significant lower urinary tract dysfunction.
- Children who underwent reconstructive bladder surgery had higher symptom scores than those who underwent endoscopic incision alone (P = .02).
- The most common dysfunction areas were holding urine and straining to defecate, while pain with urination and incontinence-related wet clothes were the least common.
- Symptom scores did not differ by sex, location of ureterocele, or number of surgeries.
IN PRACTICE
“Patients and families should be counseled about this association and screened accordingly to minimize lower urinary tract dysfunction morbidity,” the researchers wrote.
SOURCE
The study was led by Tyler Overholt Daniel, MD, of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and was published online on August 13 in the Journal of Pediatric Urology.
LIMITATIONS
Guardians helped answer questions, so true voiding habits may not have been clarified. Some patients may not have recalled their past symptoms accurately.
DISCLOSURES
The study received support from the National Institutes of Health. The authors did not declare any conflicts of interest.
This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.
