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Post surgery - scar tissue

User
Posted 02 Jul 2021 at 15:41

My oh has had recurring problems with scar tissue at the neck of the bladder.  Has anyone else experienced this and how did they deal with it?

 

User
Posted 02 Jul 2021 at 19:52

I went back into theatre around 13 times either for dilatations or incisions into the scar tissue. I did self dilatation ranging from once a day to three times a week. I used catheters varying from 12 to 22. I did find less was better. I was going to have reconstructive surgery to the urethera but salvage RT shrunk the bladder and I have finished up with a permanent suprapubic catheter. 

At times I was having an op every 3 months, normally the catheter came out after two weeks. One error in theatre saw me come out of hospital with two Catheters and a punctured urethera. Two or three attempts is not unheard of.

Bit difficult in the current covid situation but you might want to consider getting a referral to one of the top professors in the country.

Any questions, just ask.

Thanks Chris 

Added, New posts sometimes take a bit of time to get moderated.

 

 

 

 

Edited by member 02 Jul 2021 at 20:00  | Reason: Added note

User
Posted 02 Jul 2021 at 22:52

Hi,

I've no experience of this although I read a couple of cases where they had surgery to reduce the scar tissue although as Chris says above you can use physical methods to improve it.   Your husband should advise his urology doctor of the problem.

An American website says:

'The contracture may be treated by dilation, a nonsurgical procedure that can be performed in a doctor’s office. Tubes of increasing diameter are inserted through the urethra so that the opening can be gradually widened (dilated) to allow a urinary catheter to be inserted to drain urine from the bladder.

A surgical procedure called a transurethral incision may be performed to relieve symptoms of bladder neck contracture. It is performed while the patient is under anesthesia. A resectoscope (a type of cystoscope) is inserted through the urethra to allow the surgeon to visualize the bladder neck. Using the cystoscope, tiny incisions can be made in the bladder neck to open it so that the urine can flow more easily out of the bladder.'

It seems a good explanation although I'm not sure it is exactly the same as your husbands case.  The dilation doesn't seem to be permanent, perhaps Chris can explain that better.  The full webpage is here:

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/15440-bladder-neck-contracture-of-the-bladder-neck

Sometimes treatments overseas aren't available in the UK so it might be worth checking.

All the best, Peter

Edited by member 02 Jul 2021 at 22:56  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 02 Jul 2021 at 23:51

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

My oh has had to have scar tissue removed several times now since his op 2.5 year ago. He self catheterises a few times a day in order to slow down the build up of scar tissue again and he knows that if he starts struggling to get the catheter in, then the scar tissue is building up again. His ops seem to be averaging twice a year which is very depressing for him especially if he has to come out with a hard catheter inserted which has to stay in for about 4 weeks. Has anyone had this problem solved?

 

Sarajane hope you don't mind me copying your other post over here. 

 

Peter, I only quickly read the article, it seems pretty much the same as in the UK, I think the scar tissue it is more common than we are lead to believe. My surgeon is convinced my scar tissue was caused when the catheter was swiftly removed after getting stuck. I was told by a surgeon that the earlier Da Vinci machines did not have tactical feed back and over tight sutures were possible.

 

Thanks Chris

 
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