Abstract : In many developing countries, including Malaysia, most hospitals still rely on a manual stent registry system (MSS) to prevent forgotten ureteral stents (FUS), with their reported incidence rates as high as 15%. To overcome the limitations of the MSS, we developed Malaysia’s first cloud-based smartphone stent registry system (SSS). This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the SSS in reducing the incidence of FUS compared with the traditional MSS. Data from two patient cohorts were retrospectively reviewed: 152 patients managed using the MSS and 158 patients managed using the SSS. In the MSS group, patients were provided with physical stent cards indicating the expected dates of removal, and stent tracking was performed manually by healthcare staff. In contrast, the SSS digitally recorded each stent episode and sent automated SMS reminders to patients prior to their scheduled stent removal. The primary objective was to compare the incidence of FUS between the two systems. The mean (standard deviation) ages were 59.3 (12.9) years and 59.0 (12.9) years, for the MSS and SSS cohorts, respectively. Ureteric stone obstruction was the most common indication for stent placement in the MSS group, while post-procedural stent placement was the most common in the SSS group ( p =0.021). Thirteen percent of patients in the MSS group had FUS, while all patients in the SSS group had their stents removed as planned ( p <0.001). As a result, the median (interquartile range) duration of stent indwelling was longer in the MSS group than in the SSS group (141 38–167 days vs . 45 13–162 days, p =0.019). The median (interquartile range) duration of FUS was 55 (20–114) days. This study demonstrates that the SSS significantly outperforms the MSS in stent tracking, offering a more effective and reliable solution for reducing the incidence of forgotten ureteral stents.
Khor et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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