PROBLEMS WITH DOUBLE-J STENTS AND NEPHROSTOMY TUBES

Double-J stents and nephrostomy tubes are used both to temporize prior to definitive treatment and for longterm relief of ureteral obstructi on, Nephrostomy tubes that are correctly placed guarantee relief of ob struction and facilitate intrarenal manipulations but have a number of disadvantages, not least of which is the need for an external collect ing bag, Double-J stents obviate the external bag but do not ensure re lief of obstruction and have adverse functional and histopathologic ef fects on the ureter, Despite improvements in materials, no stent is to tally resistant to encrustation, and frequent changes are required.