Kim SW, Lee JN, Kim HT, Yoo ES, et al.
Turkish journal of urology. Date of publication 2018 Mar 1;volume 44(2):185-188.
1. Turk J Urol. 2018 Mar;44(2):185-188. doi: 10.5152/tud.2017.35929. Epub 2017 Dec
11.
Management of a patient with vesicocutaneous fistula presenting 13 years after
radiotherapy performed for cervical cancer.
Kim SW(1), Lee JN(1), Kim HT(1), Yoo ES(1).
Author information:
(1)Department of Urology, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine,
Daegu, Korea.
A vesicocutaneous fistula (VCF) is a tract that is formed abnormally between the
bladder and the external surface of the body. VCF results in a great deal of
inconvenience, discomfort, and physical disability for the affected patient. This
condition can be caused by extensive trauma with pelvic bone fracture, radical
pelvic surgery, irradiation of pelvic malignancies, hip arthroplasty, a large
bladder calculus, and various other pathologies. The management of VCF should be
approached on a case-by-case basis because of the complexity of the disease. In
this report, we present a case of VCF that was managed by using vacuum-assisted
closure therapy. A 72-year-old female was diagnosed with VCF as a late
complication after radiotherapy for cervical cancer. After radiotherapy, she had
lower urinary tract symptoms and was diagnosed as a neurogenic bladder. She
started to perform clean intermittent catheterization (CIC). She was subsequently
diagnosed as chronic kidney disease stage 5 due to hypertensive nephrosclerosis,
and started to receive hemodialysis. Recently, she avoided CIC because of
decreased urine output. Despite urinary diversion and surgical debridement, the
surgical wound had not healed after several days. After vacuum assisted closure
therapy, the surgical wound healed and filled with granulation tissue. This case
shows that vacuum-assisted closure therapy is efficient for complicated wound
healing of a VCF after radiotherapy.
DOI: 10.5152/tud.2017.35929
PMCID: PMC5832384
PMID: 29511592
Conflict of interest statement: Conflict of Interest: No conflict of interest was
declared by the authors.
