Histochemical changes after ureterosigmoidostomies and colonic diversion.

Forty patients with colonic urinary diversions were studied for morphological and histochemical changes in the colon using haematoxylin and eosin, and high iron diamine alcian blue stains. Eighty-nine per cent of ureterosigmoidostomies biopsied at the ureteric orifice and 44% biopsied distal to the orifice showed "transitional" changes thought to represent a pre-malignant state. Thirty-eight per cent of patients who had had ureterosigmoidostomies in the past and 100% of the colon conduits also demonstrated this change. The earliest "transitional" change occurred 1 year after the diversion. This and the low incidence of morphological changes in this group of patients suggest that the finding of "transitional" mucosa is of no value in the follow-up of patients with colonic urinary diversions.