Prognosis of fertility after surgical closure of vesicouterine fistula.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate fertility of women following surgical closure of vesicouterine fistula.

STUDY

DESIGN

Long-term retrospective investigation combined with a follow-up in the setting of an academic department. Operative hospital records (15,718) were reviewed for a 12-year period.

RESULTS

Sixteen women with a vesicouterine fistula at reproductive age entered the study. Five pregnancies were recorded after repair, of which four resulted in a full term delivery. In comparison with the data reported to date this series showed significantly higher rates of pregnancy (31.25% vs. 9.7%; P = 0.012) and term deliveries (25% vs. 6.2%; P = 0.01). The majority of women were afraid of recurrence if pregnant again.

CONCLUSIONS

Fertility after repair of vesicouterine fistula can be much better than previously described.