The applicability of using straight ureteral stents for the treatment of ureteral stones in presumably non-compliant patients

There have been many reports describing the complications of retained urete ral stents following stone treatment. We wanted to evaluate the practicalit y of definitive treatment of poorly compliant patients who present with ure teral stones using a straight stent connected to a urethral catheter alone and compared these to patients treated with double-J stents alone. We treat ed 23 patients (12 in group I and 11 patients in group Il)who had a uretera l stone of 6 mm or less, with an indwelling straight stent and a double-cl stent, respectively, while on oral antibiotics. We followed these patients 1 week later with an abdominal X-ray prior to removing the stent. Eleven pa tients in group I and 9 patients in group II passed their stones spontaneou sly. Three patients required surgical intervention with a ureterscope and l aser lithotripsy. There were no cases of infection or pyelonephritis, Altho ugh each of the straight-stent-treated patients returned to our clinic for follow-up, only 5 of the 11 double-J stent patients returned for follow-up. The remaining 6 patients had to be contacted to remind them that they stil l had an internal stent. Although technologic advances now allow many urolo gists to definitively treat ureteral stones, some urologists may lack the p roper equipment and/or assistance to treat the stone at the time of present ation, or may deal with non-compliant patients. Therefore, in these certain circumstances, treatment of small ureteral stones in non-compliant patient s using a straight stent connected to a leg bag, as either definitive or in itial treatment, may be of practical use and avoid the risk of retained dou ble-J ureteral stents, Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karger AG. Basel.