VUR Update on Gianna

As you all know Gianna has a condition called Vesicoureteral Reflux. She was diagnosed when she was 2.5 after we took her in for a UTI. In a normal urinary tract, urine travels from the kidney to the bladder thru the ureter tubes. There is a one-way flap at the end of the ureter that allows urine to flow into the bladder but prevents urine from going back to the kidney. Well in the simplest terms, Gianna has a faulty flap. Her flap is not one-way. Her ureter tubes also have kinks in them instead of being straight. VUR only occurs in about 1% of the general population & it is more common in girls. Most people with VUR outgrow the condition as the ureter tubes get longer. However Gianna is one of those cases where she is not going to grow out of it. She had her 3rd VCUG test yesterday & there have been no signs of improvement over the last 3 years. Her urine is still refluxing all the way to the kidneys which means she is always at a high risk of infection. Our next course of action is surgery. A ureteronecystostomy, ureter implants, will allow the elongation of the ureter tubes and fixing the faulty flap. A small lower abdominal incision is made, the abdominal muscles are seperated exposing the bladder. Then the ureter is surgically moved to create a longer tunnel & an effective flap valve. The operation is about 2 hours, a catheter is left in overnight to drain the bladder & discharge is the next day. We have not scheduled the surgery yet as we will have to coordinate schedules. We will let everyone know once it has been scheduled.