Clinical Medicine Insights: Urology

Ureteral stricture, regardless of etiology, remains difficult to treat. Mainstays of therapy include polymeric double J stents and percutaneous nephrostomy tubes, each with respective complications. Multiple retrospective studies have now been published using the Resonance metallic double J stent, which is the focus of this review. A literature search was completed utilizing Pub Med. Key words included metallic stent, Resonance stents, and ureteral stricture. All identified papers were included. The stent is generally well tolerated, with infections, hematuria, and voiding symptoms requiring removal in 0% –14% of patients. Stents remained in place for mean of 4 to 9.4 months with the exception of a single study evaluating ureteroenteric strictures, where average duration was 21 days. In most studies a subset of patients kept the stent in situ for >12 months, indicating that for some, the Resonance stent is a viable option, though predicting which patients will do well remains difficult.