The comparative effectiveness of ureteral stents placed during ureteroscopy for urinary stone disease is widely debated. We sought to evaluate unplanned medical visits within the early post-operative period after ureteroscopy in patients with and without ureteral stent placement.
We identified all ureteroscopic procedures for urinary stone disease in the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) database from 2010-2012. The primary outcome was any emergency department visit or inpatient hospital admission in the first 7 days following ureteroscopy. Patients were sub-categorized by type of ureteroscopy (i.e. laser lithotripsy versus basket retrieval) and analyzed for significant differences between stented and unstented patients. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to determine if ureteral stent placement was independently associated with unplanned visits.
Our analytic cohort included 16,060 patients undergoing 17,716 ureteroscopy procedures. A ureteral stent was placed in 86.2% of patients undergoing laser lithotripsy, and 70.5% of patients receiving basket retrieval. In the 7 days following ureteroscopy, 6.6% of patients were seen in the emergency department and 2.2% of patients were admitted to a hospital. In a fully adjusted model, the utilization of a ureteral stent was not associated with emergency department visits or inpatient admissions.
Ureteral stent placement during ureteroscopy is not associated with an increased odds of emergency department visits and inpatient admissions in the early post-operative period.
Urology. 2018 Mar 27 [Epub ahead of print]
Harsha R Mittakanti, Simon L Conti, Alan C Pao, Glenn M Chertow, Joseph C Liao, John T Leppert, Christopher S Elliott
Department of Urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA. Electronic address: ., Department of Urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA; Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA., Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA; Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA., Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA., Department of Urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA; Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA; Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA., Department of Urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA; Division of Urology, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, Santa Clara, CA.