Hydronephrosis in malignant tumors: rationale and efficiency of endo-urological diversions.

The improvement of minimal invaseive endo-urological urinary diversions in patients with malignant ureteral obstruction (MUO) provides an alternative to open surgery. Endo-urologic procedures cause less morbidity than conventional surgical techniques. From April 1986 to April 1989, 52 patients suffering from MUO representing 64 reno-ureteral units were treated by endo-urological diversions. Proper drainage was achieved in all cases. Initial retrograde JJ-stenting was successfully performed in 30 instances. Percutaneous nephrostomy tubes were primarily placed in 34 units. Fourteen of these were finally chanded to a JJ-stent in eleven cases and an ileal conduit in three