The urological management of neurological patients is crucial to ensure patient survival and improve their quality of life. The natural progression of disease in central neurological bladders typically involves a major decrease in both bladder capacity and contractile function, often necessitating cystectomy. One alternative to urinary reconstruction is continent catheterizable urinary diversion (e.g., Miami pouch, Mitrofanoff, Monti, etc.). A common complication of these diversions is the formation of intravesical stones, which require surgical management. When the urethra allows access to the urinary diversion, the gold standard is transurethral lithotripsy using a cystoscope; however, when this is not feasible, several techniques exist, albeit without clear recommendations.
In the literature, the most frequently discussed techniques include bladder dilation, percutaneous bladder lithotripsy using nephrolithotripsy (NLPC) equipment, and trans-stomal lithotripsy using a flexible fibroscope. Although bladder dilation has shown higher complication rates in case series compared to other techniques, there is very little comparative data between the percutaneous and trans-stomal methods in the literature. Case series indicate a higher risk of fistula formation with the percutaneous technique for urinary diversions performed in the gastrointestinal tract as compared to native bladder diversions, and a risk of stenosis or loss of continence with the trans-stomal technique.
At the Hospices Civils de Lyon (HCL), the Urology Department of the Lyon Sud Hospital has expertise in neuro-urology with a large cohort of patients presenting continent catheterizable urinary diversions, and the Urology Department of Edouard Herriot Hopspital has expertise in NLPC, particularly with the use of mini-NLPC (smaller nephroscope diameter). The synergy between these two departments has enabled the creation of a large cohort, with frequent use of the percutaneous route for bladder lithotripsy and, since 2020, the trans-stomal route using mini-NLPC equipment.
Therefore, given the limited data available in the literature, this retrospective comparative study would provide stronger evidence to improve the management of these patients.