Clinical outcomes and prognostic factors associated with internal ureteral stent placement for malignant extrinsic...

The optimal management of malignant extrinsic ureteral obstruction (MUO) remains unclear. It is necessary to assess the patient prognosis in deciding the adaptation of drainage of renal pelvis. In this study, we investigated the clinical outcomes after ureteral stenting for MUO and the predictive factors for overall survival in order to create a risk-stratification model.

We retrospectively analyzed the clinical and laboratory data of 93 patients with radiologically significant hydronephrosis associated with MUO who underwent successful stent placement between May 2005 and May 2018.

The median survival duration after the initial stent insertion was 266 days. Of the 93 patients, 70 died, and the median interval from the first stent insertion to death was 160 days. Multivariate analysis showed that gastric cancer as the primary disease, poor performance status before stenting, and treatment after stent insertion were significant predictors of survival. According to these three factors, we stratified patients into the following four prognostic groups: no-factor (43 patients), one-factor (23 patients), two-factor (23 patients), and three-factor (4 patients) groups. This classification was effective for predicting survival, and the median survival durations in these groups were 807, 269, 44, and 12 days, respectively (p < 0.001).

Our stratification model of patients with a poor prognosis after ureteral stent placement for MUO may allow urologists and clinicians to identify patients who will benefit from ureteral stenting.