Manejo laparoscópico de las anomalías sintomáticas del uraco

A novel extraperitoneal approach exploration for the treatment of urachal mass: a retrospective observational single-center study

BACKGROUND

To explore the extraperitoneal laparoscopic urachal mass excision technique and its safety and efficacy in treating urachal mass.

METHODS

Baseline characteristics were collected from patients who underwent surgery to diagnose a urachal cyst or abscess in our hospital between January 2020 and August 2021. The full-length of the urachus and part of the top bladder wall were completely removed through the extraperitoneal approach. Patient outcomes were collected to evaluate surgical safety and efficacy, including operation time, intraoperative blood loss, drainage tube removal time, length of stay (LOS), and postoperative complications.

RESULTS

All 20 surgeries were successfully performed laparoscopically, and no case was converted to open surgery. The mean body mass index of the patients was 24.6 ± 2.2. The mean patient age was 49.3 ± 8.7 years. The mean size of the cysts was 3.0 ± 0.4 cm. The mean operation time was 56.3 ± 12.0 min. The mean intraoperative blood loss was 28.0 ± 6.4 mL. The mean drainage tube removal time was 3.0 ± 0.5 days. The mean LOS was 5.2 ± 0.4 days. The mean follow-up was 13.4 ± 2.1 months. No postoperative complications were observed during the follow-up period. The short-term follow-up and small patient cohort limited our outcome evaluation.

CONCLUSION

Our results indicated that the extraperitoneal laparoscopic approach was a safe and effective method to treat urachal mass. Given the limitations of the study, further multiple and larger sample-sized trials are required to confirm our findings.

Absceso del uraco y obstrucción intestinal en paciente con obesidad mórbida: reporte de caso

Las anomalías del uraco representan un bajo porcentaje de las patologías abdominales, no obstante, forman parte del diagnóstico diferencial del abdomen agudo por las complicaciones que puede tener. Aunque son de difícil diagnóstico debido a los síntomas inespecíficos, las imágenes diagnósticas son de gran utilidad para su identificación y caracterización. En pacientes con obesidad mórbida, la presentación del cuadro aumenta el riesgo de morbimortalidad. Por ende, en estos pacientes es necesario un control postoperatorio estricto para evaluar complicaciones secundarias a la resección del uraco. Dado los casos limitados en la literatura, se requieren estudios clínicos adicionales, para brindar un seguimiento adecuado, en aras de identificar complicaciones y el tratamiento precoz de estas.

[Laparoscopic treatment of urachal remnants]

OBJECTIVES

The urachus is a vestigial obliterated structure derived from the alantois. Failure of this involution process originates patent urachal remnants. Surgery is the treatment of choice as it prevents both recurrence of symptoms and malignant transformation. The purpose of this study is to present our experience in the laparoscopic management of this pathology.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Three male patients (mean age 39 years) underwent laparoscopic excision of urachal remnants. Two patients were diagnosed with an asymptomatic cyst and one patient with urachal sinus presenting with umbilical discharge. A three-port technique was used to remove the whole urachus tract from the umbilicus to the bladder dome, together with a small bladder patch.

RESULTS

Mean operating time was 94 min and blood loss was minimal. One patient had small intra-operative bladder rupture, successfully managed with adequate closure. No post-operative complications were observed and all patients were discharged on the second postoperative day. Two years later there was no evidence of recurrence.

CONCLUSIONS

Urachal remnants can be successfully treated by laparoscopic surgery, with advantages in terms of morbidity, recovery and cosmetic outcome. Large number, comparative studies are still needed to definitely establish it as the gold standard treatment.