A variety of retrievable and other types of temporarily placed
stents are currently being used. However, only a few studies have considered primary endoscopic realignment with temporary urethral
stent insertion in the event of traumatic bulbar urethral injury. We aimed to compare the clinical effectiveness and complications between thermo-expandable urethral
stents and
polymer-coated bulbar urethral
stents (BUSs) for the treatment of traumatic bulbar
urethral strictures. Between September 2011 and March 2018, 30 patients who had been diagnosed with complete bulbar urethral
rupture following blunt
trauma underwent temporary urethral
stent placement after primary realignment. Thermo-expandable
nickel-titanium alloy urethral
stents were placed for 15 patients (group M), and retrievable self-expandable
polymer-coated BUSs were placed for another 15 patients (group A). All
stents were removed within 6 months after placement. The complications and maintained patency rates were compared between the two groups. The mean
stent indwelling period was 5.0 ± 2.5 months in group M and 4.9 ± 4.0 months in group A. Both groups maintained high patency rates (Group M 12/15 (80.0%) and group A 13/15 (86.7%)). Five patients who developed
urethral stricture underwent direct visual internal urethrotomy (DVIU), and no patients required repeat DVIU or open surgical urethroplasty. Both groups maintained the mean maximal urinary flow rate (Qmax) at 12 months after
stent removal. Discomfort (46.7% vs. 6.7%), granulation tissue formation (73.3% vs. 26.7%) and post-void dribbling (80.0% vs. 20.0%) were more frequent in group M than in group A (p = 0.013, p = 0.011 and p = 0.001, respectively). In conclusion, both
stents were effective for managing traumatic complete bulbar urethral
rupture after primary realignment. However, the thermo-expandable urethral
stents had a higher complication rate while the
stent was in situ than the BUSs.