Endoscopic, Single-Session Management of Encrusted, Forgotten Ureteral Stents

Background and Objectives: Remained or forgotten ureteral double-J stents may cause serious complications. Removing of an encrusted, forgotten stent can be challenging. We present our experience with heavily encrusted ureteral stents and discuss the endourologic treatment options as well as their effectivity. Materials and Methods: Eleven men and six women (mean 48.58 +/- 14.48 years of age) with 18 encrusted forgotten stents (mean 16.4 +/- 13.25 months of indwelling) were treated at our clinic. All patients underwent the operation after negative urine cultures were obtained. Their medical records were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed in terms of number of interventions required to remove the stent, operation time, complications, hospital stay and stone-free rate. Results: According to the Forgotten-Encrusted-Calcified (FECal) classification, the most common form of stent encrustation was grade III (64.7%) and 17.6% of the stents were fragmented. Four of 17 patients were initially treated with extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy. The patients required a mean of two endoscopic interventions for removing the encrusted stent and all stents were removed endoscopically in a single session. The mean operating time was 63.3 +/- 41.8 minutes. Cystolithotripsy followed by ureteroscopy was the most common intervention (41.1%). Of the 17 patients, peroperative and postoperative complications were Clavien grade I in two, grade II in two and grade IIIb in one. The mean hospital stay was 1.3 +/- 0.99 days. All patients were stone-free after a month of stent removal. Conclusions: The endourological removal of the encrusted forgotten stents in a single session is feasible and effective with a minimal morbidity. The treatment strategy should be to minimize the number of interventions.