The management of urological complications in surgery for the treatment of severe endometriosis

The iatrogenic damage to the urinary tract during gynecological surgery for the eradication of pelvic endometriosis can have significant morbidity. Although most cases of ureteral injury can occur even in the absence of significant risk factors, the incidence of urinary tract injury increases especially in patients with visceral adhesions secondary to previous pelvic surgery or inflammatory bowel disease, infections and patients with deeply infiltrating pelvic endometriosis (DIE), which can lead to a structural distortion of normal surgical plans. The most commonly affected sites are the ureter and the bladder. Early identification of such injuries is essential to minimize the impact of the damage on the patient; in fact, their identification in the intraoperative phase could not even determine outcomes both from a psychological and an organic-functional point of view for the patient. We will then discuss some anatomical considerations for their prevention, the diagnostic techniques for identification and characterization, as well as the reconstructive surgical techniques and the principles of repair.

Keywords: iatrogenic injury; repair, ureter; bladder; endometriosis.