Is continent urinary diversion feasible in children under five years of age?

PURPOSE To review our clinical experience with urinary continent catheterizable reservoir in children under five years of age. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 23 patients (16 males, 7 females) with a median age of 3.64 years were evaluated. Among these, 6 (26.08%) had a posterior urethral valve, 9 (39.13%) myelomeningocele, 4 (17.39%) bladder exstrophy, 2 (8.69%) genitourinary rabdomyosarcoma, 1 (4.34%) had spinal tumor and 1 (4.34%) an ano-rectal anomaly. RESULTS Perioperative complications were observed in four patients consisting of one febrile urinary tract infection, one partial operative wound dehiscence, one partial stomal dehiscence and one vesico-cutaneous fistula after a secondary exstrophy repair. The overall long-term complications rate was 40.90% and consisted of two stomal stenoses (9.09%), one neobladder mucosal extrusion (4.54%), three neobladder calculi (13.63%) and persistence of urinary incontinence in three patients (13.63%). The overall surgical revision was 36.36% and final continence rate was 95.45% with mean follow-up of 39.95 months CONCLUSION Continent urinary diversion is technically feasible even in small children, with acceptable rates of complications.