Objective: To describe and compare baseline renal anatomy and renal function in patients with obstetric fistulas, and to evaluate whether preoperative renal testing and imaging may aid with operative decision making.
Design: A prospective cohort study.
Setting: Fistula Care Centre in Malawi.
Population: Women with an obstetric fistula.
Methods: Baseline creatinine testing and renal ultrasounds were performed. Surgeons completed a short questionnaire on the usefulness of creatinine and renal ultrasound on operative decision making.
Main outcome measures: Baseline creatinine and renal ultrasound findings.
Results: Four surgeons performed operations on 85 patients. The mean creatinine in patients with vesicovaginal fistulas (VVF) was 0.60 ng/ml versus patients with uretero-vaginal fistulas (UVF) (0.79 ng/ml, P = 0.012). When a grade 3 or more hydronephrosis is absent on renal ultrasound, the negative predictive value of the presence of UVF is 93.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] 88.6-96.2) with a specificity of 97.2% (95% CI 90.3-99.6). In cases of UVF, surgeons found the renal ultrasound results useful or very useful 87.5% of the time, and the creatinine useful or very useful 75% of the time.
Conclusion: In this pilot study, most patients with obstetric fistulas presented with a normal creatinine. In the absence of a grade 3 hydronephrosis or above on renal ultrasound, the probability of not having a UVF is 93.3%. Surgeons should consider performing preoperative renal ultrasound testing in all patients with an obstetric fistula, particularly in women with a prior laparotomy, as this population has risk factors for ureterovaginal fistula.
Tweetable abstract: Most patients with obstetric fistulas have normal renal function. Preoperative renal ultrasounds should be performed.
Keywords: Low-resource settings; Malawi; obstetric fistulas; renal anatomy; renal function; renal ultrasound; ureterovaginal fistulas; vesicovaginal fistulas.
© 2020 Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.