Orthotopic bladder substitution following radical cystectomy in women: Comparative study between sigmoid and ileal neobladders

The objective of this study was to retrospectively compare the clinical outcomes of sigmoid and ileal neobladders (NBs) created in women. This study included 18 and 14 women who underwent orthotopic NB reconstruction using sigmoid and ileal segment, respectively, after radical cystectomy, and postoperative clinical outcomes between the sigmoid and ileal NB groups (SNBG and INBG) were compared. Eighteen early and 7 late complications occurred in 12 and 6 women, respectively; however, there was no significant difference in the incidence of complications between SNBG and INBG. The proportion of patients who could void spontaneously in SNBG (94.4%) was significantly greater than that in INBG (64.3%), while there was no significant difference in continent status between these 2 groups. Despite the lack of significant differences in maximal flow rate and voided volume, post-void residual in SNBG (15.7 ml) was significantly smaller than that in INBG (62.0 ml). SF-36 survey for postoperative quality of life (QOL) did not show any significant differences in 7 of the 8 scores between the 32 women with NB and an age-matched control population; however, 3 of the 8 scores in SNBG were significantly superior to those in INBG. During the observation period of this study, urethral recurrence did not occur in any woman, and there was no significant difference in cancer-specific survival between the 2 groups. These findings suggest that it might be preferable to create sigmoid rather than ileal NB in women following radical cystectomy considering the favorable voiding function and QOL in SNBG.