Treatment success was defined as having
persistent normalization of serum B12 levels on all followup
studies after initiation of therapy.
In a separate and independent investigation, the institutional
database of 898 patients who had undergone
bladder augmentation was searched, and patients who had
at least one post-operative serum B12 level reported were
highlighted. Patients with non-ileal augmentation segments
were excluded. This second cohort was designed to include
a larger segment of patients, as the first cohort only
included patients who had been initiated on oral therapy.
In patients identified with at least one measured postoperative
serum B12 level, the indication for enterocystoplasty
was evaluated and classified as neuropathic or
non-neuropathic in nature. Patients with any spinal cord
dysraphism such as myelomeningocele, caudal regression
syndrome, tethered spinal cord, or lipomeningocele were
classified as having neuropathic disease. Patients with noncord-related
illness, such as bladder exstrophy, or isolated
bladder anomalies, such as bladder duplication, were
categorized as having non-neuropathic indications for
enterocystoplasty. All patients with underlying gastrointestinal
abnormalities were excluded (e.g. cloacal
exstrophy).
As in all previously reported B12 studies, low B12 was
classified as serum levels of 200 pg/ml, and low-normal
serum levels were classified as 201e300 pg/ml. Patients
were considered to have low serum B12 levels if they had at
least one reported value of