Have any of you had a Bladder Augmentation?

[~*~Christine~*~]

I read about it on the handbook and now I'm curious if it has worked for anyone or it didn't work/made it worse. How long was the recovery?
My case is listed as "severe" and my mom just read the uro's report, to send for my disability coverage, that my treatments are, basically, not helping so I'm almost at the end of the line when it comes to treatments, hence why I'm researching other alternatives.
So, if you have had an augmentation please reply, it would be of much help :)

Thanks! :bunny:

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For those who don't know what a bladder augmentation is:
"Augmentation makes the bladder larger, most often by adding a section of the patient's small intestine, a tube-like structure that absorbs and transports nutrients from food for use by the body. With this treatment, scarred, ulcerated and inflamed sections of the patient's bladder are removed, leaving only healthy tissue and the base of the bladder. A piece of the patient's small intestine is removed, reshaped, and attached to what remains of the bladder. After the incisions heal, the patient may be able to void normally.
Even in carefully selected patients-those with small, contracted bladders--the pain, frequency, and urgency may remain or return after surgery and the patient may have additional problems with infections in the new bladder and difficulty absorbing nutrients from the shortened intestine. Some patients are incontinent while others cannot void at all and must insert a catheter into the urethra to empty urine from the bladder."

[marye]

I haven't had an augmentation but that is what my doctor says will be the next step.
They probably wouldn't do that unless they determined the capacity was extremely small or all elasticity was gone. (He mentioned about 50 cc capacity as a guideline.) He said it would fail about 1/3 of the time requiring bladder removal, and the use of more intestine for a pouch. He couldn't guarantee it would help the pain and said I would have to use a catheter afterward. Doesn't make you want to run out and try it. The reason he would want to do this instead of removal is because it doesn't require disconnecting the kidneys and I have just one kidney.

[DebbieD]

Yes I have had this Done. I had a cecum cystic plastic Bladder Made. Part Bowel and Part Bladder. They did it twice. Did not work on me. I was Self-Cath the whole time.

DebieD

[Judith56]

I also had an augmentation done. Within 8 months I had to get my bladder removed as the IC had spread to the newly augmented bladder. It also put me in permanent retention so the only way I could urinate was to cath myself. I also started to form bladder stones as well as getting lots of infections. I am surprised they want to do it,since I believe it has a high rate of failure. I think you should talk to your doctor about how many he/she has done for IC and how those patients have done afterwards. Also ask if you can talk to them.Please feel free to ask me any more questions you might have. Judith

[~*~Christine~*~]

Thanks for the reply everyone :)
hmmm sounds like an augmentation is a bad idea; I'll try to stear clear of this as a last resort