Ureteral procedures and complications

Ureteral procedures and their complications occupy a critical intersection of gynecologic surgery and obstetric care, where damage to the urinary tract—whether during difficult labor or pelvic operations—can produce lasting consequences ranging from chronic incontinence to social marginalization. Obstetric fistula, particularly vesicovaginal fistula, remains a major public health burden in low-resource settings, where prolonged obstructed labor destroys the tissue separating the bladder from the vagina and leaves affected women facing profound physical and economic hardship. Surgeons and researchers are actively refining repair techniques, including reconstruction using alternative tissue grafts and approaches adapted for minimally invasive platforms such as laparoscopy and robotic surgery, while also working to understand why iatrogenic ureteral injuries persist even in high-resource environments. Central open questions include how best to standardize prevention protocols across surgical specialties and whether expanding access to skilled obstetric care can meaningfully reduce the global incidence of fistula before surgical capacity alone is stretched to meet the need.

Works

41,379

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216,423

Keywords

Obstetric FistulaVesicovaginal FistulaUreteral InjuryDiagnosisManagementSurgery