Ureteral injuries in an obstetric and gynaecology teaching hospital

Between November 1994 to May 1996, there was a total of eight ureteric injuries out of 2495 major gynaecologic operations and one ureteric injury out of 4146 caesarean sections at the Kandang Kerbau Hospital, giving the incidence to be 0.3% and 0.02% respectively. Antecedent operations were four abdominal hysterectomies, two Werthiem's hysterectomies, one laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy and one caesarean section. All operations were performed by qualified specialists. Three patients had previous abdominal operations and five patients had procedures complicated by dense adhesions. Only one injury was detected intraoperatively and the rest presented with uretero-vaginal fistula. One presented with immediate postoperative anuria. The average time interval for diagnosis ranged between one day and twenty-three days (average 10.7 days). The commonest damage was transection of the ureter. Double J stents were used in all repairs with two cases requiring reimplantation with psoas hitch, and two cases of ureteroneocystostomies and one case of primary reanastomosis. There were no mortality in our series.