Endourological management of ureteral obstruction after renal transplantation

Purpose: We evaluated endourological treatment of ureteral obstruction after r Materials and Methods: Between January 1986 and December 1993, 582 kidney transplantations were performed at our center, and ureteral obstruction was suspected in 31 cases (5.3%). Results: Initial treatment consisted of retrograde placement of an internal stent in 6 patients and percutaneous nephrostomy in 25. Due to upper tract dilatation obstruction could not be diagnosed in 3 patients, and rejection was the cause of decreasing renal function. Obstruction was temporary in 8 of the remaining 28 patients, including 6 in whom a Double-J* stent was introduced in a retrograde manner without anesthesia. In the other 2 patients as well as the 20 with definitive obstruction, cannulation of the transplant orifice without anesthesia was unsuccessful and percutaneous nephrostomy drainage was necessary. Even with general anesthesia a guide wire could not be passed along the stricture in a retrograde or antegrade fashion in 7 of the 20 patients with definitive obstruction and open surgery was performed. The remaining 13 patients underwent dilation with (9) or without (4) diathermic incision. All 4 patients treated with dilation only had recurrent obstruction, while 9 treated with dilation and incision had no recurrence after a minimum followup of 27 months (mean 58). Conclusions: Modern endourological procedures have replaced open reconstructive surgery in the majority of patients with ureteral obstruction after renal transplantation.