Guidance
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued full guidance to the NHS in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland on laparoscopic cystectomy.
It replaces the previous guidance on laparoscopic cystectomy (NICE interventional procedures guidance 26, December 2003).
Description
This procedure is used to treat
- Invasive bladder carcinoma
- Ongoing incontinence due to paraplegia, where catheterisation results in infection and ongoing leakage
- Refractory complications in a defunctionalized bladder, where urinary diversion is already established
Laparoscopic cystectomy involves removing the bladder using small cuts (also known as 'keyhole surgery'). In women, the bladder is removed through the wall of the vagina. In men, the bladder is removed with the prostate gland, through a small cut in the wall of the abdomen. The tubes that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder (the ureters) may then be connected to a bag worn outside the body, or parts of the bowel can be used to make an artificial bladder which is drained by a connection to the abdomen wall or to the tube that carries urine out of the body (the urethra).
Coding and clinical classification codes for this guidance