Ileal conduit for transplant

A very small number of patients with kidney failure have an abnormal bladder which will not be suitable for taking the urine from a kidney transplant. In most cases, the abnormal bladder was a reason for the kidney failure. When this is the case, an alternative route for urine drainage is needed: an ileal conduit.

An ileal conduit is a short length of small bowel which has been separated from the rest of the small bowel, one end sewed or stapled closed and the other end brought up to the skin as an opening called a urostomy, which drains urine directly into a bag attached to the skin like a colostomy bag.

If we know that an ileal conduit will be needed for a transplant, it is usually made in advance as a resting ileal conduit — “resting” as there is no urine flowing through it until the transplant. We can also usually use an existing ileal conduit if one was made before the kidneys failed.

The diagram of the ileal conduit for transplant was adapted by us from a diagram of ileal conduit after cystectomy designed by Cancer Research UK and sourced from Wikimedia Commons.