Clinical value of prophylactic ureteral stent indwelling during laparoscopic colorectal surgery

One of the hazards of colorectal surgery is ureteric injury. The aim of this study was to evaluate the results of ureteric catheterization regarding its safety and operative time. One-hundred sixty two patients underwent laparoscopic segmental left or right colectomy. The mean time for placement of ureteric catheters was 11.4 min for the right hemicolectomy and 11.3 min for the left hemicolectomy group. The mean preparation times for right hemicolectomy and left hemicolectomy (group 1 vs. group 2) were 54.7 vs. 39.1 min (p=0.00001) and 61.4 vs. 47.6 min (p=0.006), respectively. There were no significant differences in the laparoscopic operative time in either the right or left hemicolectomy groups (134.2 vs. 145.5 min and 198.4 vs. 170.1 min, respectively). There was no morbidity directly related to the ureteric catheters and in fact the incidence of postoperative urinary tract infection was lower in group 1 (1.5%) than in group 2 (5.3%) (p<0.05). Although the use of ureteric catheters added a mean of 11.3 min to the surgical procedure, the overall anesthetic time for right hemicolectomy was no longer than that for left hemicolectomy. The morbidity rate was quite acceptable. Thus, ureteric catheters may be useful in selected cases of laparoscopic left and right colorectal resections.