The Role of Stent Placement in Laparoscopic Ureteroureterostomy: Experimental Porcine Model

OBJECTIVE Laparoscopic ureteral surgery is becoming increasingly common; however, advanced laparoscopic skills are required due to the precise suturing involved. Because of the size of the ureter and need for careful mucosal apposition to prevent stricturing, there is less room for error than with larger lumens, as in pyeloplasty. We sought to identify whether the presence of a stent is beneficial or a hindrance in performing ureteroureterostomy both for the novice and more experienced laparoscopist. MATERIALS AND METHODS Eight ureteroureteral anastomoses were performed on each ureter of a 50 kg female pig for a total of 16 anastomoses. Eight were performed with a stent in place, and 8 were performed without a stent. An equal number with and without a stent were performed by a novice and an experienced laparoscopist. Anastomoses were graded by time to complete and quality of the anastomosis. Quality was graded by the presence and size of defects and patency of the lumen. RESULTS The overall times required for ureteral division and spatulation, initial stitch placement, completion of the anastomosis, and total time for the stented vs. nonstented procedures were 4.3 vs. 2.2 minutes (P=0.05), 4.2 vs. 4.4 minutes (P=0.16), 10.4 vs. 13.5 (P=0.22) minutes, and 18.3 vs. 20.1 minutes (P=0.49), respectively. For stented and nonstented ureters, 3 vs. 5 anastomoses were found to have no or very small gaps, 5 vs. 1 anastomosis were found to have large gaps, and 0 vs. 2 anastomoses were found to have occluded lumens, respectively. CONCLUSIONS For both the novice and experienced surgeon, presence of a stent did not affect the overall time to complete a ureteroureteral anastomosis despite the significantly longer time needed to divide and spatulate the ureter. There were no occlusions when the ureteral stent was placed prior to suturing, which may indicate a reduced risk of "back-walling" the ureter.