Experience with the spanner prostatic stent in patients unfit for surgery: an observational study

Prostatic stents offer a third clinical option for patients with bladder-outlet obstruction who are unfit for surgical relief and wish to avoid long-term catheterization. We report our experience with the Abbey-Moor Spanner temporary prostatic stent in patients with acute and chronic symptoms of bladder-outlet obstruction secondary to benign or malignant disease who were unfit for surgery because of age or cardiorespiratory disease.

A series of 43 consecutive patients stented March 2004 through November 2005 were reviewed retrospectively. Stents were removed and replaced every 3 months if tolerated.

More than half of the patients (63%) had an unsatisfactory outcome, namely, immediate or delayed retention or elective removal because of unbearable symptoms. The remaining 37% of patients had a satisfactory outcome and either continue to have the stent in situ after a mean of five changes or are stent free after a successful voiding trial.

Only 21% of the patients in whom stenting was indicated continued to have a stent in situ at the end of the study. We suggest that in such patients, a temporary stent such as the AbbeyMoor Spanner should be used for only 3 months as a trial of stenting followed by a trial of stent-free voiding, with the patient converted to permanent prostatic stenting if voiding is unsuccessful.