Omentum has a wide application value in ureteroplasty, however, some specific situations limit its clinical application. Therefore, we modified the application method of omentum and proposed a new method named omental covering (OC) technique. This study aims to systematically evaluate the safety and efficacy of OC technique in robot-assisted lingual mucosa graft ureteroplasty (RA-LMGU). We conducted a retrospective analysis of data from 79 patients who underwent RA-LMGU between June 2021 and October 2024 at two hospitals. Patients were divided into two groups according to the method of omental application: the omental wrapping (OW) group and the OC group. Perioperative and follow-up data were collected. A total of 79 patients were included, with 24 in the OW group and 55 in the OC group. The median ureteral stricture length was 4.3 interquartile range (IQR), 3.7, 6.0 cm in the OW group and 3.0 (IQR, 2.1, 4.0) cm in the OC group (P<0.001). The median operative time was 181 (IQR, 139, 217) min in the OW group and 150 (IQR, 110, 198) min in the OC group (P=0.06). The median postoperative stay was 7 (IQR, 7, 8) days in the OW group and 6 (IQR, 5, 7) days in the OC group (P<0.001). The median follow-up time was 32 (IQR, 26, 39) months in the OW group and 11 (IQR, 4, 16) months in the OC group (P<0.001). It is worth noting that both groups achieved a 100% surgical success rate. These short-term follow-up results demonstrated that the OC technique is also safe and effective in ureteral repair and reconstruction using lingual mucosa graft and it can reduce postoperative stay.
Zhou et al. (Tue,) studied this question.