Use of double-J ureteric stents post-laparoscopic pyeloplasty to treat ureteropelvic junction obstruction in hydronephrosis for pediatric patients: a single-center experience.

We aimed to investigate the safety concerns associated with placing double-J ureteric stents post-laparoscopic pyeloplasty surgery for congenital ureteropelvic junction obstruction (UPJO) and hydronephrosis.

A total of 1349 patients with postoperative double-J stent placement at our center were included. Clinical variables for enrolled patients were collected by two independent authors. We compared clinical variables and the efficacy of stenting post-laparoscopic pyeloplasty.

The mean age of the patients was 4.23 ± 2.39 years. A total of 58.49% of patients were diagnosed with left UPJO with hydronephrosis and 33.95% were diagnosed with right UPJO. Furthermore, 7.56% of patients had bilateral UPJO. In all cases, 96.96% of indwelling double-J stents were successfully removed 4 weeks post-surgery. A total of 3.04% of the patients still required further management, including stent migration to the renal pelvis (0.37%), stent migration to the bladder (0.30%), prolapse of the stent through the ureter (0.15%), blockage of stents (1.85%), and fouling of stents (0.37%).

Double-J ureteric stents used after laparoscopic pyeloplasty for treating UPJO in hydronephrosis for pediatric patients is a safe, feasible, and beneficial method, which can be recommended for routine procedures. However, caution should be practiced for follow-up and removal using this method.

The Journal of international medical research. 2020 Apr [Epub]

Haobo Zhu, Jun Wang, Yongji Deng, Liqu Huang, Xiaojiang Zhu, Jun Dong, Jintong Sha, Nannan Gu, Zheng Ge, Geng Ma, Yunfei Guo, Aihua Zhang

Department of Urology, Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China., Department of Nephrology, Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.