[Role of transvesical ultrasonic scanning in the diagnosis of causes of ureteral stenosis in patients with cervical cancer].

Abstract

gamma-Beam therapy of combined radiation therapy are frequently followed by ureteral obstruction, caused by a cervical cancer recurrence or pelvic postradiation fibrosis. The knowledge of a cause is very important for a choice of therapeutic tactics of obstructive uropathy. The purpose was to define the potentialities of transvesical ultrasound scanning (TVUSS) in order to reveal causes of disturbed urodynamics of the urinary tracts after radiation therapy of cervical cancer. TVUSS was performed in 17 women with a confirmed diagnosis. It turned out that a cervical cancer recurrence could be differentiated from postradiation fibrosis by specific ultrasound signs. Another group of 44 patients was investigated using this method to find out causes of disturbed urodynamics of the upper urinary tracts: postradiation pelvic fibrosis was noted in 7 patients, a recurrence of cervical cancer--in 19, a recurrence of cervical cancer with the involvement of the urinary bladder--in 11, and bladder carcinoma--in 3, in 3 other cases the diagnosis was not established as a result of difficulties in interpreting sonograms.