Deflux Injection – Why it may be a good option
Not all children are good candidates for Deflux, but for those that are, Deflux can be a good alternative to ureteral reimplantation for the treatment of VUR. Deflux is a bulking agent that is injected around the ureter opening to prevent urine from backing up into the kidneys. The success rate after the first injection is about 85%. That number increases with multiple injections.
Studies have shown that having a Deflux injection lowers incidence of UTI and has an 85-90% resolution rate of VUR. If it is used as a first line treatment, Deflux is more effective than prophylactic antibiotics in reducing recurrent UTI. According to one study, patients on prophylaxis were 79% more likely to develop a breakthrough infection than those who had Deflux. That’s a pretty good argument for using Deflux as a first line of treatment in lower grades of VUR.
Another benefit to Deflux is recovery time. The injection itself takes only about 10-20 minutes, and is usually done as an outpatient surgery. The child can usually go back to normal activities the next day. That’s a pretty big difference from the surgery. Reimplantation surgery is usually 2-3 hours and recovery takes a while because of the incision, catheter and bladder spasms. Another positive is that by doing Deflux first, you are not ruling out any treatments later. Some open surgeries can prevent later treatment options.
While Deflux is a great option, for some children reimplantation surgery is a much better option. This was the case for us. Lizzie had grade 5 VUR, with multiple recurrent infections, and that meant open surgery. When we later discovered that her reimplant failed, Deflux became an option for us, and she had a Deflux injection at the age of 11 months, along with a vesicostomy. Because we did the vesicostomy surgery at the same time, I can’t say what having outpatient Deflux is like. I can say that even with the other surgery, Lizzie recovered very quickly.
We won’t know for sure if Lizzie’s Deflux was successful until we can do another VCUG. It may be another year or so until we know, because of the difficulty of doing a VCUG with an ostomy. We are hopeful that the Deflux has at least helped the VUR, but we realize that another injection or two may be necessary because the grade of her reflux is so high.
If you think your child might be a good candidate for Deflux, you should talk to your doctor. You may also want to look at the links on this page for more information on Deflux.
Lizzie's Journey 
Patty said,
November 21, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Our grand daughter had deflux but it didn’t work, it actually blocked her ureter completly and ended up with a nephrostomy tube for a while. Later they did a bit of reconstruction of the ureter, but that didn’t work either. She only has one kidney so they have to be so careful with her. She is also a grade 5. We are all hoping the vesicostomy done the begining of this month will at least give her a break from all the infections. She has hetero taxy polysplenia and although she has several spleens, only one works to some extent. Leaving her with a compromised immune system.
Sadek said,
April 6, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Hi, i am living in United Arab Emirates& would like to buy Deflux Injection, for that I am asking what is the name of its company and what is the name of the agent of this product in UAE.
Thanks & Regards
workjw said,
April 6, 2009 at 1:33 pm
I’m not sure, but you might want to look at the following links. They might have some useful information for you. It does look like it is available there, and I believe it is distributed by Q-Med. Your urologist should also have more information. Hope this helps!
http://www.biospace.com/news_story.aspx?NewsEntityId=65640
http://deflux.com/
Andrea O. said,
July 7, 2009 at 10:51 pm
My daughter has bilateral VUR, grade IV o one side, and grade V (and a secondary ureter!) on the other. She had a double Deflux procedue, and recovered quite quickly. Unfortunately, as we were warned before the procedue took place, the Deflux didn’t work. We’ve elected to keep her off of prophylactic anti-biotics, as this can lead to anti-biotic resistance. BUT we always keep anti-biotics on hand, and give her cranberry juice and lots of water at the first sign of even the slightest belly ache. The thing is, she is not allowed to have any chocolate or caffeine, or any stimulants, because this is what seemed to bring on the bladder infections (both in her and in me!)
Is anyone else following this protocol?
Patti said,
July 23, 2009 at 1:31 pm
I have two children with VUR, my oldest and my youngest. My oldest was undiagnosed until she was 3 years old- her pediatrician just kept perscribing antibiotics- not realizing that it could be a bladder/kidney issue. Anyway we finally were advised by a P.A that I babysat for to see a urologist. We discovered that the oldest had VUR- grades 3 and 4. We went the coarse of profalactic Antibiotics for 3 more years with MANY breakthroughs, until she reached 6 years old. We then opted for the bilateral recontruct/reimplantation- which was quite the ordeal.
She went on for 9 years without any infections or problems and just this month underwent a VCUG and found she still had grade 2 on the right side. The urologist was quite suprised- she had been complaining of right flank pain for quite sometime but at 14 years old she didnot want the VCUG. We went for her annual check up and he sprung the VCUG on her so she couldn’t back out and thank God he did. This was on a Monday and she was in surgery on Weds morning having the Deflux injection.
I am absolutely amazed at how far technology has come in the 9 years since her surgery! It took about 45 minutes- no incision and she walked out feeling great.
Since this time (about a week ago) she has been voiding ALOT and she finds it a burden- but for us we find it amazing.
Now my youngest daughter also had grades 3 and 4- but was on a profalactic for her first few years and never had an infection- she is now 5 and with her last check up is perfect. Her reflux is not even noteable.
While resistance to antibiotics is always a chance- we took it to keep our youngest from the horible surgery that our oldest underwent- not to mention the scarring and damage she will have to live with. It worked for us…
We will revisit the urologist next month to see if the deflux worked- my hunch is that it did.