Question

What is the structure seen in the given X-ray below?

• A. Stent
• B. Surgical clips
• C. Foley catheter
• D. Intravesical wire

Hint:

A long radiopaque tube with J-curls in the renal pelvis and bladder is which device?

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Step 1: The plain abdominal X-ray shows a ureteric stent. A ureteric stent, also called a double-J or retrograde ureteric stent, is a urological catheter with two J-shaped curled ends, one anchored in the renal pelvis and the other in the bladder.
Step 2: The radiographic signature is the long radiopaque tube running the length of the ureter with a curl (the 'J') in the renal pelvis above and a curl in the bladder below, often bilateral. This is exactly what is depicted, identifying the device as a stent.
Step 3: Ureteric stents drain the upper urinary tract when the ureter is obstructed or obstruction is anticipated, for example by oedema after instrumentation, stricture, passage of stone fragments, or external compression, and they are commonly used in reconstructive surgery.
Step 4: Why the distractors are wrong: surgical clips are small, dense, focal metallic markers, not a long curled tube. A Foley catheter sits in the bladder with a balloon and exits the urethra, not coursing up the ureters. An intravesical wire would be confined to the bladder without the characteristic ureteric course and proximal renal-pelvis curl. The answer is stent.