E-ISSN : 2757-7163
Materials and Methods: The medical records of patients treated with the diagnosis of FUS (those with stents for >6 months) between January 2014 and June 2024 were retrospectively reviewed. The reasons for the DJ stent placement, the center where the stent was placed (those placed in our own clinic and forgotten or those placed in an external center and forgotten and referred to us), duration of the stent, symptoms at presentation, and treatments performed were noted.
Results: The study included 79 patients. The mean age of the patients was 49.4±21.3 years, with a range of 25-90 years. Of patients, 60.8% were unaware of the presence of a stent. The mean stent duration was 24±39.4 months (range 6-300 months) and 52 (65.8%) patients had encrustation. There were 4 (5.1%) patients with solitary kidneys. The mean postoperative hospitalization time was 5.6±4.5 days. The majority of patients underwent DJ stent placement after ureteroscopic lithotripsy (34.2%) and due to obstructed ureteral stones (31.5%). The most common symptoms at presentation were storage lower urinary tract symptoms (22.8%), dysuria (21.5%), recurrent urinary tract infection (16.5%) and flank pain (15.2%). Three (3.8%) patients underwent open nephrectomy due to non-functioning kidney. All remaining patients were treated endoscopically.
Conclusion: FUS often causes more morbidity than treatment of the primary disease. Although it can be successfully treated with endourological surgeries, the main goal should be to prevent the development of this complication.
