Urinary Tract Reconstruction and the Abnormal Bladder

The importance of patient participation in second-line chemotherapy decisions: perspectives of African-American patients

BACKGROUND

Minority populations have been considered to be less-active participants in their health and, consequently, more vulnerable to having decisions made for them.

PROCEDURES

We interviewed African-American patients (N=26) with cancer who had recently consented to second-line chemotherapy, offered when their disease was no longer responding to standard first-line regimen.

RESULTS

The majority (73%) reported involvement in the decision to start second-line chemotherapy. Forty-two percent reported making the decision together with their doctor. Support for autonomy was positively associated with education (p=0.01). Information seeking was considered more important than participating in decision-making. Patients who were less educated and had lower income reported stronger internal belief that their own actions and behaviors would determine their future health (p=0.04, p=0.007, respectively). Depression was identified in 35% of the study group and found not to be associated with any of the main outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Although the majority of patients report participating in the decision to begin second-line chemotherapy, there are a diversity of views towards autonomy, the importance of information seeking and determinants of future health. Understanding patients' beliefs and attitudes around the time of disease recurrence may assist clinicians in supporting patients during this stressful time.

Moral and religious objections by hospitals to withholding and withdrawing life-sustaining treatment

A patient's right to decide about life-sustaining treatment may conflict with the policies of health care facilities that refuse on the basis or religious or moral convictions to honor certain decisions to forgo treatment. The New York State Task Force on Life and the Law examined the prevalence and nature of facility conscience objections to the refusal of life-sustaining treatment by conducting a survey of New York hospitals. Written questionnaires were distributed to hospitals in New York State. Fifty-eight percent of the New York State hospitals responded. Twenty-nine percent of the respondents indicated that their hospital would object on grounds of conscience either to withholding or to withdrawing life-sustaining treatment in at least one of the twelve hypothetical cases presented. Hospitals were more likely to have "no policy" for withdrawing than for withholding treatment. Only 10% of the hospitals that would object to decisions to forgo treatment on religious or moral grounds had stated the objections in writing. The patient's medical condition and the type of life-sustaining treatment to be withdrawn or withheld are important factors in determining whether a hospital will object on grounds of conscience. The imminence of death appeared more decisive than the degree of debilitation or disability as a factor in the willingness to accept decisions to forgo life-sustaining treatment. Hospitals should establish clear, written policies about their objections to forgoing treatment so that patients and their families can evaluate whether the facility meets their needs.

Silent decisions: limits of consent and the terminally ill patient

Over the past decade we have witnessed a remarkable change in the courts, and presumably in societys, attitude toward the care of the terminally ill patient. In a series of court decisions, judges have consistently ruled that the terminally ill patient's autonomy must be respected, even if that means limiting the patient's care when that is the patient's wish. Moreover, courts have allowed the incompetent patient's family and doctors, when they agree, to make substituted decisions to limit care, that is, decisions which attempt to replicate the choices that the patient would have made about his own treatment were he able to do so. Courts have not, however, offered guidance on those situations in which the incompetent patient's family and physicians disagree with respect to their recommendations concerning the course of therapy the patient would choose. Most importantly, courts have failed to establish clear limits on professional authority in situations where disagreements occur.

An alternative technique for undiverting the sigmoid conduit

A technique for undiverting a colonic conduit of limited capacity and with short ureters is described. The colonic segment of the conduit and an additional segment of small bowel are patched together to form a low pressure cystoplasty of large capacity. This technique incorporates 3 principles that are believed to be important in reconstructing any type of cystoplasty: large capacity, increase in diameter and disruption of the strong circular muscle layer of the bowel by detubularization.

Nonneurogenic neurogenic bladder (the Hinman syndrome)--15 years later

Every child with day and night wetting is a suspect for vesicourethral dysfunction on a behavioral basis, which, when severe, appears as a syndrome that we have called the nonneurogenic neurogenic bladder. Futile attempts by the child at sphincteric urinary control in the face of uncontrollable bladder contractions not only produce the symptoms but also the anatomical and functional changes: vesical trabeculation, distortion of the ureterovesical orifices and dilatation of the upper tracts, along with residual urine and consequent bacteriuria. These changes are indistinguishable from obstructive or, particularly, neurogenic factors, although these causes must be ruled out. Urodynamic investigations in these children show incoordination between detrusor contraction and the expected but not forthcoming urethral sphincteric relaxation. Since these children usually are toilet trained initially, the incoordination appears to be a learned behavior or habit, perhaps as a response to under-appreciated detrusor contractions. Reversal of the syndrome is achieved by suitable medication and by some form of suggestion or retraining. Reparative operations will fail if done before the system is balanced.

Urinary Tract Undiversion

Nine children underwent urinary diversion for lower urinary tract obstruction and were followed for periods of 2.5 to 15 years (median 10 years). Eight had cutaneous ureterostomies and the ninth had an ileal conduit. Undiversion was performed because of the return of normal function, the possibility of renal transplantation and ileal conduit stomal obstruction. The patients have been followed for periods ranging from 6 months to 9 years (median 2.5 years) after undiversion. To date, eight have moderate to good renal function. The remaining child has progressive renal failure. Eight are continent and one has mild stress incontinence.

Ureterostomy in situ as an aid to reconstructive urologic surgery

Ureterostomy in situ is a valuable adjunct to reconstructive urologic surgery. While acting as a ureteral splint and safety valve ureterostomy, it offers access for antegrade radiologic and manometric studies and may be used in conjunction with indwelling splints.

Use of the AS792 artificial sphincter following urinary undiversion

Reconstruction of the urinary tract after diversion has been successful in patients with normal innervation of the lower tracts. However, the possibility of urinary incontinence after such major surgical procedures has dissuaded many surgeons from attempting urinary undiversion in patients in whom the continence status cannot be determined accurately before the operation or who were known to be incontinent before the original diversion. For this reason, the presence of neuropathic bladder dysfunction has been considered a relative contraindication to urinary undiversion unless it can be established preoperatively that the patient will obtain urinary continence. Eight patients are reported who had successful outcome with the use of the AS792 artificial urinary sphincter to control incontinence after urinary undiversion. Because of this successful experience it is now believed that patients with neuropathic bladder dysfunction or anatomically abnormal lower tracts are no longer precluded from urinary undiversion. A variety of methods has been used to reconstruct the urinary tract, including total reconstruction of the bladder and urethra with the sigmoid colon in 1 case. In the latter case the artificial sphincter was placed around the bowel segment to provide continence. The use of the artificial sphincter around a bowel segment offers many possibilities for reconstructive procedures involving bowel in the future.

The role of bladder augmentation in undiversion

Twenty-nine pediatric patients underwent bladder augmentation as part of their urinary undiversion. Indications included spina bifida deformity, contracted small bladder, and extrophy. Cecal and sigmoid segments were used. Prior diversion included ureterointestinal conduits, vesicostomies, ureterostomies, and suprapubic catheter drainage. In most cases the renal function was normal. Intermittent catheterization is used in almost every cases. Several illustrative cases are shown.

Urinary tract diversion and undiversion in the pediatric age group

Undiversion is an interesting phenomenon but may in part be self-limiting. As the experience with techniques in reconstruction increases, the need for diversion may give way to that of earlier correction of the original pathology, Thus, reversal of diversion by offering a wealth of experience in reconstruction may well lead to its own demise. Nevertheless, even with newer reconstructive techniques, there is, to date, a definite place for diversion of the urinary tract in the pediatric age group and there are now many pediatric patients still to be considered candidates for undiversion