Your doctor may recommend cystectomy to treat:

Cancer that begins in the bladder or that begins nearby and grows to involve the bladder

Birth defects that affect the urinary system

Neurological or inflammatory disorders that affect the urinary system

Before cystectomy, talk with your doctor about the medicines you take and your use of caffeine, alcohol or other drugs. You may need to make changes to your medications or avoid certain substances to help with healing and recovery after surgery.

If you smoke, the best thing you can do for your health is to quit before surgery. Not only is smoking a risk factor for developing bladder cancer, smoking also increases the risk of developing problems after surgery.

You're given a medicine (general anesthesia) that keeps you asleep during surgery. Once you're asleep, your surgeon cuts into your abdomen — one larger incision for open surgery or several smaller incisions for minimally invasive or robotic surgery.

Your surgeon next removes your bladder along with nearby lymph nodes. Your surgeon may also need to remove other organs near the bladder such as the urethra, prostate and seminal vesicles in men and the urethra, uterus, ovaries and part of the vagina in women.

After your bladder is removed, your surgeon works to reconstruct the urinary tract in order to allow urine to leave your body. 

You may need to stay in the hospital for up to five or six days after surgery. This time is required so that your body can recover from the surgery. The intestines tend to be the last part to wake up after surgery, so you may need to be in the hospital until your intestines are ready once again to absorb fluids and nutrients.

After general anesthesia, you may experience side effects such as sort throat, shivering, sleepiness, dry mouth, nausea and vomiting. These may last for a few days but should get better.

Starting the morning after surgery, your health care team may have you get up and walk often. Walking promotes healing and the return of bowel function, improves your circulation, and helps prevent joint stiffness and blood clots.

You may return to the clinic for follow-up care in the first few weeks after cystectomy and again after a few months. At these appointments, your doctor will check to make sure that your upper urinary tract drains adequately and that you're not experiencing electrolyte imbalances.

If cystectomy is performed to treat bladder cancer, your doctor will recommend regular follow-up visits to check for cancer recurrence.