Obstetric Fistulas: Epidemioclinical Aspects and Management at the Maroua Regional Hospital Summary

Abstract

Obstetrical fistula is an abnormal communication between the vagina and the urinary tract or between the vagina and the rectum, or both, leading to urinary incontinence. The cameroonian government with its developmental partners have set up centers to deal with these fistula among which, the one of the Maroua Regional Hospital. After two years of active operation, it was judicious for us to evaluate the functioning of the said center. Hence, the interest of this study led to the general objective of the evaluation of the management of obstetric fistula at the Maroua Regional Hospital Center. We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study with retrospective data collection based on 118 records of patients managed during the study period. Results obtained showed that, the age group of [20-25] years were mainly represented in the sample. The vesico-vaginal form was the most common fistula with 72.90%. The surgical approach by the lower route with fistulorraphy was practiced in 84.70% of the overall cases. The success rate was 96.62% against 3.38% failure at hospital discharge. Long-term follow-up gave us a cure rate of 77.23% against 22.77% cases of recurrence. Concludingly, the results obtained are encouraging, however, more efforts are needed in terms of awareness and early detection of cases in the communities in ordre to eradicate this pathology.