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A ureteral stent (pronounced you-REE-ter-ul), or ureteric stent, is a thin tube inserted into the ureter to prevent or treat obstruction of the urine flow from the kidney. The length of the stents used in adult patients varies between 24 and 30 cm. Additionally, stents come in differing diameters or gauges, to fit different size ureters.
A ureteric balloon catheter is a balloon catheter intended for treating strictures of the ureter. In fact it is a double J stent on which a balloon is mounted. It is connected to a delivery device (pusher) to introduce it from the bladder into the ureter. The system comprises a non-return valve device, and a pusher with a stylet and two ports.
(The ureter is the tube that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder.) The physician can then see the stone and remove it with a small basket at the end of a wire that is inserted through an extra tube in the ureteroscope.
Ureteral stents are used for various purposes, such as temporary measures to prevent damage to a blocked kidney until a stone removal procedure can be performed, providing drainage for compressed ureters caused by tumors, and preventing spasms and collapse of the ureter after trauma during procedures like stone removal. The thread attached to ...
The presence of indwelling ureteral stents may cause minimal to moderate discomfort, frequency or urgency incontinence, and infection, which in general resolves on removal. Most ureteral stents can be removed cystoscopically during an office visit under topical anesthesia after resolution of urolithiasis. [116]
Mean follow-up was 6.5 years. Complications include common ureteral narrowing (one patient); subsequent kidney removal, or nephrectomy (one patient); recurrence of disease with ureteral obstruction (one patient); and disease progression in a case of inflammation of blood vessels, or vasculitis (one patient).
In some cases, a ureteral stent is placed at the time of the anastomosis, with the assumption that it allows for better drainage and healing. However, using a modified Lich-Gregoir technique, Gaetano Ciancio developed a technique which no longer requires ureteral stenting, avoiding many stent related complications.
A retrograde pyelogram may be performed to find the cause of blood in the urine, or to locate the position of a stone or narrowing, tumour or clot, as an adjunct during the placement of ureteral stents. [13] It can also be used ureteroscopy, or to delineate renal anatomy in preparation for surgery.