CASE 53: Retained Ureteral Stent

Male in his 50s who underwent a re-transplantation 20 years after having received an initial deceased donor kidney. A ureteral stent placed at the time of the first transplant was never removed. The initial transplanted kidney had functioned for 15 years. Patient was on dialysis with no urine output for the past 5 years. Immediately after the re-transplantation, three pieces of the old stent (green arrows) were found in the urine.

A CT obtained after the passage of the fragments of the 20-year-old ureteral stent showed part of it embedded within the bladder wall (green arrow) at the site where the vesicostomy was undertaken for the implantation of the re-transplant ureter (yellow arrow). It is likely that the old stent was accidentally fractured when incising the bladder, anastomosing the ureter of the re-transplant organ onto the bladder, and inserting the new stent.

A CT obtained after the passage of the fragments of the 20-year-old ureteral stent showed part of it embedded within the bladder wall (green arrow) at the site where the vesicostomy was undertaken for the implantation of the re-transplant ureter (yellow arrow). It is likely that the old stent was accidentally fractured when incising the bladder, anastomosing the ureter of the re-transplant organ onto the bladder, and inserting the new stent.

Coronal view showing the initial kidney transplant with the remnants of the stent (green arrows) and the new allograft with the newly placed ureteral stent (yellow arrow).