Tips To Live With A Urostomy

A surgically created opening in the abdomen to pass out urine is known as a urostomy. The reason your surgeon may want to give you a urostomy is the bladder’s malfunction, which generally happens due to cancer or injury. A urostomy typically consists of a small piece of bowel that receives urine from one side and passes it to the other end, which appears as a stoma on the belly.

Different types of urostomies

There are three ways your surgeon will construct a urostomy.

Ileal conduit: An ileal conduit is the traditional type of urostomy that uses a small reservoir made of the ileum. This reservoir doesn’t have much capacity, which necessitates the patient to wear an ostomy bag the entire time to collect urine. With no sphincters in the stoma, the patient doesn’t have any control over when to expel urine.
Continent pouch: This type of urostomy consists of an internal pouch that your surgeon will create using tissues from your bowel. This pouch will connect to the opening in the belly through a valve. This continent pouch gives you total control over when to evacuate urine from the reservoir. You will need to use a catheter, though.
Neobladder: Neobladder is similar to a continent pouch – it uses bowel tissues, and it stores urine, eliminating the teeth to wear an external pouch. The difference is that it connects with the urethra, allowing the patient to pass out urine using the natural urinary pathway.

Possible problems connected to a urostomy

With a urostomy diversion, you are going to have to remain in touch with a urologist for the rest of your life.

With a change in the natural anatomy of the urinary tract due to the surgical diversion, there might be the risk of urine flowing back into kidneys, which can cause infections that can lead to kidney dysfunction or hydronephrosis.
The surgical reconstruction that utilizes a part of the bowel can result in the loss of some of the bowel function. The problems that can occur in this regard may include osteopenia, kidney stones, or vitamin B12 deficiency.
The part of the bowel used to create the conduit or continent pouch will continue producing mucus, which can cause blockage in the stoma.
The part of the bowel used to create a continent pouch or conduit can develop polyps or cancer cells. This risk of cancer is significantly higher than that of cancer that develops in an intact bowel. The reason for this is unknown, though.

Fortunately, all these problems are preventable. You will just have to make sure that you stay in contact with your doctor and go for regular checkups.

Caring for the stoma

If you have a stoma, you will have to take care of it and the skin around it. After surgery, an ostomy care nurse will teach you how to use an ostomy bag to prevent leakage. There can be irritation in the peristomal skin if it comes in contact with the stomal output, so you will need to ensure a leak-proof seal between the ostomy pouch and the skin around the stoma.

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