What to expect after vesicovaginal fistula surgery

1.Activities encourage patients to get out of bed after 72 hours postoperatively with family escort for appropriate activities, pay attention to protect the catheter during activities; activities and movements that increase abdominal pressure should be avoided as much as possible! Vaginal examination and sexual life are prohibited for 3 months after surgery!  2, diet after surgery need to exhaust before eating liquid, and gradually return to a normal diet; postoperative diet without special contraindications, easy to digest and high nutrition diet, appropriate supplementation of fruits, vegetables and coarse fiber food, to keep the stool smooth and effortless; if constipation occurs, you can use appropriate open plug or take laxative drugs to help defecation.  3. Catheters and gauze are routinely placed after laparoscopic vesicovaginal fistula: intravaginal gauze, intra-abdominal negative pressure drainage tube, catheter, cystostomy tube. Intravaginal gauze: removed 48-72 hours postoperatively, or longer if there is blood in the vagina; negative pressure drainage tube: routinely removed 1 week postoperatively; if there is leakage of urine, the removal time will be determined by the postoperative drainage; catheter: routinely removed 2-3 weeks postoperatively, generally 2 weeks for postoperative urinary fistula, and 3 weeks for urinary fistula caused by radiotherapy; cystostomy tube: routinely The cystostomy tube: routinely kept for 4-8 weeks, adjusted according to the actual situation if necessary, such as patients with urinary fistula after radiotherapy need to stay for a longer period of cystostomy, and patients with urinary extravasation or urinary fistula found before removal, need to continue to keep the cystostomy. During the period of postoperative indwelling catheter and cystostomy tube, as the tube is kept open, the catheter and cystostomy tube are used to drain urine in the bladder, therefore, with the change of body position, the drainage flow of the two tubes will have different changes, which is normal and need not be too worried.  4, after the wound surgery should be careful to avoid high-risk factors, including smoking, infection, diabetes and long-term use of steroids, so as not to affect the wound healing. The stitches are routinely removed 1 week after surgery, and you can take a shower with the tube after the stitches are removed, but you need to keep the incision and the area around the drainage tube dry and clean, i.e., you need to dry the incision and the area around the tube after the shower, and apply external spray medication to disinfect the treatment. The cystostomy tube needs to be taken care of on its own, keeping the area around the catheter dry and clean and disinfected with topical medication twice in the morning and evening.  5. Cystic spasm The placement of cystostomy tube and catheter can easily lead to cystic spasm, which mainly manifests as abdominal pain, strong urge to urinate, and urine spraying around the drainage tube, especially the catheter, etc. Routine treatment: (1) check whether there is folding of the two catheters, poor drainage, change of catheter position, etc.; (2) local wet towel hot compresses on the lower abdomen can relieve the above symptoms to some extent; (3) apply cholinergic drugs symptomatic treatment. The above treatments do not necessarily relieve cystospasm completely, but the above symptoms will disappear after removal of the catheter and cystostomy tube.  6. Patients with pharmacological vesicovaginal fistulas all have varying degrees of urinary tract infections, which are usually treated with symptomatic medications for anti-infection before surgery, and oral medications are required to continue treatment after the postoperative intravenous medications are finished; cholinergic medications are routinely used to suppress cystospasm after surgery.  7. Removal of cystostomy tube After removal of the negative pressure drainage tube and catheter, the cystostomy tube should be clamped shut and urinated on its own, and the cystostomy tube should be removed only after it is clear that there is no vaginal leakage.  8.The follow-up consultation schedule is according to the discharge doctor’s order, and is usually 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 6 months and 1 year after surgery. In special cases, other arrangements will be made. Please make sure to bring the discharge summary to the follow-up appointment.