Complications of cystectomy and urinary diversion

What is important for the Indication? Urinary diversion procedures are not without possible complications arising from the choice of surgical technique as well as the effect that the type of urinary diversion has on the patients' quality of life. For example, the decision to preserve or remove the anterior urethra can have significant impact on quality of life due to the fact that removal would exclude these patients from orthotopic neobladder reconstruction. The most feared complications of continent cutaneous urinary diversion are incontinence and/or stomal stenosis. For the decision to construct a rectal bladder, one of the most important problems is the preoperative evaluation as to whether this type of continent diversion will be reliable for the patient. This article summarizes the most important issues which have to be taken into consideration by the urologist and discussed with the patient prior to surgery.