A “bridge” technique to replace the obstructed single-J stent in the patient with ileal conduit urinary diversion: a case report

The ureteroileal anastomotic stricture is a complication of ileal conduit urinary diversion. To prevent the hydronephrosis and protect the renal function, a single-J ureteral stent may be needed. However, the most common complication of these patients is single-J stent obstruction. To solve this problem, we describe an easy, useful and low-cost technique to replace the obstructed ureteral stent under radiographic guidance without intervention by flexible cystoscopy or percutaneous nephrostomy. The key steps of our procedure are to identify the location of the stricture, to place the super smooth guide wire into pinhole of the obstructed single-J stent and to get the super smooth guide wire and 5-Fr ureteral catheter across the stricture. Our case was a 40-year-old male patient who was diagnosed as pelvic lipomatosis and received ileal conduit urinary diversion 3 years ago. The left-side ureteroileal anastomotic stricture occurred 1 year after surgery. He refused to repair the stricture by open or other minimal invasive surgery. He regularly changed his ureteral stent with intervals of three months. As the stent was obstructed by the stone, the guide wire couldn’t be inserted through the primary ureteral stent. We used our “bridge” technique to solve his problem successfully. No bleeding and no urinary tract infection were observed after intervention. The urine from the ureteral stent was fluent. We think that this “bridge” technique may be a good choice for the replacement of the obstructed single-J stent in the patients of ileal conduit urinary diversion.