An ileal conduit urinary diversion is a surgical technique usually referred to as the Bricker ileal conduit after its inventor, Eugene M. Bricker. It is a form of urostomy,[1] and was developed during the 1940s and is still one of the most used techniques for the diversion of urine after a patient has had their bladder removed, due to its low complication rate and high patient satisfaction level. It is usually used in conjunction with radical cystectomy in order to control invasive bladder cancer.
To create an ileal conduit, the ureters are surgically resected from the bladder and a ureteroenteric anastomosis is made in order to drain the urine into a detached section of ileum (a part of the small intestine). The end of the ileum is then brought out through an opening (a stoma) in the abdominal wall. The urine is collected through a bag that attaches on the outside of the body over the stoma. The bag must be periodically emptied of urine, and must be replaced every one or two days. Any period longer than this poses the risk of infection.
Another and very effective use of an ileal conduit is for systemic isolation of a kidney transplant, often due to bladder nephropathy that may pose an unacceptable risk of reflux and thus infection or obstruction, into the transplanted organ. The urostomy is fashioned as previously described and connected ureteroenteric anastomosis to the transplant ureter. Urinary tract infections are unfortunately very common because stomas are natural colonisers of bacteria; in transplant patients, antibiotic treatment, often over a long term and more frequent appliance changes are effective but not curative countermeasures.
The bag adheres to the skin using a disk made of flexible, adherent materials. Unfortunately, there can be problems with leaking and rashes (excoriation), and heavy physical exertion will exacerbate deterioration of the appliance. Sometimes the leakage occurs unexpectedly, and "ostomates" (as they are known) usually carry a spare appliance to deal with unexpected emergencies.