Improvised method to retrieve a proximally displaced ureteral stent in a remote surgical setting

To present an improvised method for repositioning a proximally displaced stent using only a cystoscope and a guidewire.

A Glidewire guidewire (Boston Scientific) was passed through a cystoscope and into the distal ureter, and manipulated up the ureteral stent into the renal pelvis, reflected, and passed antegrade down the ureter and into the bladder. The guidewire was then grasped in the bladder, clamped at the penis, and retracted, pulling the stent back into the bladder.

The patient proceeded with lithotripsy, and the stent was removed in 2 weeks without complication.

Methods at retrieving proximally displaced ureteral stents after deployment have been previously reported; however, these methods necessitated access to a ureteroscope and special graspers/baskets that may not be available in an outpatient surgical center setting. Here, an improvised method for stent repositioning using only a cystoscope and a guidewire allowed successful retrieval of a proximally migrated stent.