[Treatment of post-partum urogenital fistulas in Africa. 261 cases observed in 10 years].

A homogeneous series of 261 post-partum urogenital fistulae treated over the last ten years in Africa by the same operator is analysed. Mostly occurring in young, primiparous women in a rural environment, the predominant cause was neglected dystocic delivery in the bush (65.5%). The fistula was traumatic in 27.9% of cases and secondary to hysterectomy in 6.8%. 247 patients underwent surgical repair. The choice of repair procedure, generally performed via the transvaginal route (92.3%), was based on the anatomical classification of the various lesions into three groups of indications: Group I: simple fistulae (98), in which surgical treatment consisted of closing the fistula orifice by simple separate suture of the bladder and vagina, generally followed by success. Group II: more difficult fistulae (109) with severe tissue damage, raising the dual problem of continence and healing and requiring the use of mattressing with a well vascularised adjacent tissue (55 cases). Group III: complicated fistulae (54) with the presence of associated lesions, often requiring multiple urological, genital and intestinal operations as well as complementary plastic techniques (31 cases): double autoplasty of the labia major (17) and adipocutaneous pedicle skin flap (14). 212 of the 261 patients (81.2%) were cured, 23 obtained partial cure (insufficient continence, amenorrhoea, vaginal sclerosis making sexual activity impossible) and there were 26 failures. Urinary diversion was the only solution in 14 patients (7.8%). The objective in surgical correction of urogenital fistulae is twofold: to obtain good quality cure (81.2%), i.e. controlled micturition and a normal, genital, conjugal and social life. overcome the limitations of palliative operations which are always poorly accepted in Africa, at the cost of repeated, staged surgery designed to simplify the lesions in the most severely damaged cases. Prevention programmes designed to eradicate urogenital fistulae, which constitutes a real public health problem in developing countries, will only be made credible by an improvement in the quality of the results obtained in the treatment of this disease.