The Management of Upper Urinary Tract Obstruction in Resource-Poor Settings

ABSTRACT

Objective: The management of upper urinary tract obstruction in the absence of modern facilities presents a major challenge to Urologic practice in developing countries. The aim of this study was to describe the etiology; presentation and treatment of upper urinary tract obstruction at the Jos University Teaching Hospital; Nigeria. Patients and Methods: This is a prospective analysis of 37 consecutive patients (18 males; 19 females) with a mean age of 35.5 years (range 3-55) who were managed for upper urinary tract obstruction at our department between January 2001 and December 2005. Two of them presented with a second pathology; so that we treated 39 pathologies in total. Flank pain was the most common clinical feature; being present in 35 patients (94.6). Other clinical features were gross hematuria in 12 (32.4); an enlarged kidney in 5 (13.5); renal impairment in 4 (10.8) and hypertension in 3 (8.1) patients. Diagnostic work-up consisted of plain radiography; abdominal ultrasound scan; intravenous urography and retrograde pyelography. Renal pelvic stones were the leading cause of obstruction (13 patients; 35.1); while congenital pelvi-ureteric junction (PUJ) obstruction was found in 7 (18.9) and ureteric stricture and vesical schistosomiasis in 4 (10.8) and 3 (8.1) patients; respectively. Two patients had bilateral obstruction from two different causes.Results: Twenty-nine open surgical procedures were carried out. They consisted of pyelolithotomy (n=12); pyeloplasty (n=6); ureteroureterostomy (n=4); ureteroneocystostomy (n=3); nephrectomy (n=2) and ureterolithotomy (n=2). Eight patients were treated non-surgically. Two patients are awaiting definitive surgical treatment. A total of 4 (13.8) complications following 29 operative procedures were encountered two cases of migration of double-J ureteric stents ; one case of prolonged urine leakage and another case of wound infection. Conclusion: Upper urinary tract obstruction is not uncommon in our environment. In the absence of modern facilities; open surgery remains our main option of treatment; and it is relatively safe