Woman receives 'neobladder' in robotic-assisted surgery

Woman suffered two years with severe pelvic, back pain

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A woman who suffered more than two years with severe pain in her pelvis and back has a new lease on life following a robotic-assisted surgery in April, performed at Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville.

Lisa Mitchell, 46, suffered from severe pain in her pelvis and back because of a nonfunctioning bladder. Sometimes, she would go to the bathroom 60 times in 24 hours and up to 32 times a night. At work, she would get up from her desk, at times every 15 minutes, to use the bathroom. Mitchell said traveling for her sales job became impossible, and she often lived with catheters to help empty her bladder.

Biopsies of her bladder turned up no cancer. Medications and therapies didn’t help and Mitchell was hospitalized when her kidneys started to fail.

She was ultimately diagnosed with follicular cystitis, or FC, a rare and non-specific inflammatory disease of the bladder, and inflammatory pseudotumor of the bladder, which is a rare, benign condition of multiple lesions.
She found a solution in January after her urologist connected her with Seth Strope, MD, urologic oncologist surgeon and head of urologic oncology at Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center.

After trying some additional treatments with no success, Mitchell opted to have her bladder removed and a new one made out of a portion of her small intestines.

“Inflammatory pseudotumor looks like sarcoma (cancer), but it’s not malignant,” Dr. Strope said. “We tried to treat conservatively to see if we could preserve her renal function. But despite efforts to relax her bladder and help her bladder function, it was progressively getting worse so she choose to undergo surgery.”

Strope removed Mitchell’s bladder on April 6, using robotic-assisted surgery and making small incisions that spared her reproductive organs. From about a foot of her small intestine, Dr. Strope constructed a pouch and placed it back in the same position as her original bladder.

The new bladder, called a “neobladder” was attached to her ureters, which are the tubes that carry urine produced by the kidneys.

"It's been a blessing. I'm excited about life again," Mitchell said. "I'm doing things that I haven't done in a long time."

While not every bladder problem is as extreme as Lisa’s, frequent urination, pelvic pain and incontinence are very common issues among women of all ages.

That’s why, in addition to offering advanced surgical options, Baptist Health also offers unique wellness resources for women through its 4her Center for Women, including the Total Control pelvic health and wellness program.

For more information about options for pelvic health and wellness, or a referral to Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center, contact 904-202-4her (4437).