Case – An invisible stent

Abstract

A 72-year-old male presented for an annual left-sided ureteral stent change. The stent was entirely invisible on fluoroscopy, but interestingly, was completely intact and functioning normally. After cystoscopic retrieval, ex-vivo fluoroscopy demonstrated that this stent was more radiolucent compared to a brand-new stent. A review of serial computed tomography (CT) imaging demonstrated progressive loss of radio-opacity of the stent over time. We theorize that the stent lost its radio-opaque coating due to chronic exposure to urine, suggesting a need for more resilient stent coatings to avoid complications such as forgotten stent syndrome.