Incidence and timing of inadvertent nephrostomy catheter displacement in patients with ureteral obstruction

INTRODUCTION: To evaluate nephrostomy catheter displacement, we assessed the cumulative nephrostomy catheter displacement rate in patients with percutaneous nephrostomy and compared the nephrostomy displacement rates between pigtail and balloon catheters. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between 2003 and 2011, 87 patients who underwent percutaneous nephrostomy catheter placement and more than one subsequent catheter replacement were retrospectively identified. We evaluated their inadvertent nephrostomy catheter displacement. RESULTS: 20 patients (23.0%) experienced incidental nephrostomy catheter displacement during the follow-up period. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that the 1-year nephrostomy catheter displacement-free survival rate was 62 ± 9%. No significant independent risk factors for predicting nephrostomy catheter displacement were identified, including the type of catheter. The median time from initial placement to displacement of pigtail catheters was shorter than that of balloon catheters. CONCLUSION: There were no significant differences in the nephrostomy catheter displacement-free survival rates between the two types of catheters. Regardless of the type of catheter, our results indicated that careful handling and guiding during catheter placement are important for all patients because of the high risk of inadvertent events. .