Natural History of Refluxing Distal Ureteral Stumps following Upper Tract Surgery in Children with Ectopic Ureter or Ureterocele

BACKGROUND: It is a difficult problem to manage refluxing distal ureteral stumps after an upper tract approach in the ectopic ureter and ureterocele. We evaluated the natural history of the remaining refluxing distal ureteral stumps through a close follow-up. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From 1991 to 1998, nine patients with the ectopic ureter or ureterocele, whose age ranged from one to 20 (median 5.0) months, had undergone an upper tract surgery for ectopic ureter (2) or ectopic ureterocele (7). The upper tract surgery for ureterocele or ectopic ureter included a total nephrectomy (2), a partial nephrectomy (6) or a proximal ureteroureterostomy (1), leaving distal ureteral stump. We evaluated the clinical results of the remaining ureteral stumps every 6 or 12 months. The postoperative follow-up period was 51 (median; range 21-96) months. RESULTS: Among the 9 patients, 5 showed disappearance of the reflux and a markedly reduced stump size in the follow-up study. Improvement was noted in 4 patients within 6 months and in 1 by 20 months postoperatively. Two patients subsequently underwent a bladder level surgery due to problems not associated with the ureteral stump itself. Two patients have been followed up for 30 and 39 months, but without any improvement. An intermittent asymptomatic bacteriuria was noted in all patients during the follow-up, but no patient suffered from symptomatic urinary tract infection requiring an additional surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Since refluxing distal ureteral stumps were spontaneously resolved in more than half of the cases and did not cause significant problems during the follow-up, it is not necessary to remove the refluxing ureter simultaneously at the time of the upper tract surgery.