Vol. 45 (2): 376-383, March – April, 2019
doi: 10.1590/S1677-5538.IBJU.2018.0707
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Volkan Ulker 1, Hasan Anil Atalay 2, Ozgur Cakmak 1, Cem Yucel 1, Orcun Celik 1, Zafer Kozacioglu 1
1 Department of Urology, Health Sciences University, Tepecik Training and Research Hospital, Izmir, Turkey; 2 Department of Urology, Health Sciences University, Okmeydani Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
ABSTRACT
Purpose: Retained or forgotten ureteral stents (FUS) have a potential to cause signifi¬cant morbidity as well as medico-legal issues and increased cost. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and usefulness of smartphone-based Ureteral Stent Tracker (UST) appli¬cation and compare the results with basic appointment card system to prevent FUS, prospectively.
Materials and Methods: A total of 90 patients who underwent ureteroscopic stone treat¬ment procedure with indwelling DJ stents were equally distributed into two groups. In group-1, patients were followed using UST application. In group-2, only appointment cards were given to the patients. Two groups were compared in terms of stent overdue times and complete lost to follow up rates.
Results: Forty-four patients in group-1 and 43 patients in group-2 completed the study. Among patients, 22.7% in group-1 and 27.9% in group-2 did not return for the stent removal on the scheduled day. In group-1, these patients were identified using the UST and called for the stent removal on the same day. After 6 weeks of maximal wait¬ing period, mean overdue times in group-1 and group-2 were 3.5 days and 20 days, respectively (p = 0.001) . In group-2, 3 patients (6.9%) were lost to follow up, while in group-1, it was none (p = 0.001).
Conclusions: We found that the patients who were followed by the smartphone-based UST application has less overdue times and lost to follow up cases compared to the basic appointment card system. The UST application easily follows patients with in¬dwelling ureteral stents and can identify patients when overdue.
Keywords: Ureteroscopy; Patient Safety; Urolithiasis
