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Patent urachus repair - series

Indications:

Surgery is recommended for a patent urachus that does not close after birth. There is some variablity in the degree of the defect. Sometimes, only the umbilical end of the urachus fails to close, generating a urachal sinus, which does not connect with the bladder, but simply eneters the skin for a short distance. These can usually be excised locally. If the entire urachus is patent all the way to the bladder, the urachus must be excised and the bladder closed.

Reviewed last on: 9/7/2008
David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Louis S. Liou, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Urology, Department of Surgery, Boston University School of Medicine. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

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