Urologists have a new tool at their disposal to help them easily document and keep track of ureteral stents implanted in patients with kidney stones. This is important because 13 out of 100 ureteral stents will be forgotten¹; meaning that they will be left in longer than 6 months without follow up. . This could result in stent encrustation – a serious health concern – because it increases the patients’ risk of infection2-3. With the Boston Scientific Ureteral Stent Tracker app, urologists and their staff can log into their smartphone, tablet or computer to record when a stent is placed, enter in the date for follow up/removal, and set up automated reminders. This can potentially help reduce the risk of medical complications as digital tracking has been shown to dramatically reduce forgotten stents from 13 percent to 1 percent1. The Ureteral Stent Tracker is HIPAA-compliant to safely store patient information.
References:
1 Ather MH, Talati J, Biyabani R. Physician responsibility for removal of implants: the case for a computerized program for tracking overdue double-J stents.
Tech Urol. 2000;6(3):189-92.
2 Bultitude MF, Tiptaft RC, Glass JM, et al. Management of encrusted ureteral stents impacted in upper tract. Urology. 2003;62(4):622-6.
3 www.kidneystoners.org.
