What is a urostomy?
A urostomy is a surgically created opening-on the abdomen- that allows urine to flow out of the body. A urostomy may also be called a urinary diversion. Many times, the person’s bladder and urethra are surgically removed. When a person has a urostomy, urine is no longer eliminated through the urethra. Instead, urine is eliminated through the urostomy. A urostomy does not have a sphincter muscle, so a person who has a urostomy has no voluntary control over when to urinate. Instead, the person wears a pouch to collect the urine. Your surgeon may select one of several methods to create the urostomy, or urinary diversion. The most common method is called an ileal conduit. To create an ileal conduit, the surgeon removes a short segment of the small intestine(ileum). This short segment of intestine will be used as a pipeline-or conduit-for urine to flow out of the body. The surgeon closes one end of the conduit, inserts the ureters into the conduit, and brings the open end of the conduit thr
