Female Sexual Function After Cystectomy

Cystectomy with bladder replacement, with or without urinary diversion, is the preferred treatment option for benign pathologies responsible for neurogenic bladder or sphincter dysfunction after failure of conservative treatments.

This surgery has both the objective of preventing urological complications and improving quality of life.

We know that women are especially affected by these conditions, as demonstrated by the high prevalence of demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis in this population. Patients are often young and sexually active before the surgery.

Despite the existence of validated evaluation tools since the early nineties, there is poor data exploring effects of invasive procedures such as cystectomy on sexual activity and quality of sexual life in female patients.

Indeed, existing literature largely focuses on sexual function in male population after cystectomy for urothelial cancer.

Data on sexual function after stoma formation in women with colorectal cancer show a significant change after the surgery, partly due to body image issues. We can easily suppose that there's also an important impact of cystectomy that may affect sexual quality of life.

Thus, the objective of the study is to assess sexual function and determine factors that may influence sexual quality of life in female patients following cystectomy or urinary diversion.