Background: Intraoperative ureteral injury (IUI) during colorectal surgery can have devastating consequences. This study aimed to assess the clinical and economic impact of pre-operative ureteral stenting in colorectal surgeries.
Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using United States hospital data (October 2015 - December 2019). IUI incidence was examined across selected inpatient surgery types (elective colectomy, enterectomy, proctectomy, enterostomy, other colorectal procedures; emergency colectomy). Stenting effectiveness was evaluated as the difference in IUI and intraoperative detection rates between propensity score-matched groups. The additional hospital cost for stenting was also estimated considering the savings from IUIs that were potentially avoidable or detected by stenting.
Results: In total, 283,549 colorectal surgeries were analyzed. Across surgery types, stent use and IUI incidence ranged from 1.47% - 8.86% and from 0.91% - 2.90%, respectively. Stents were used in 6.75% of elective colectomy cases, where they were associated with an absolute reduction of 1.14 percentage points (95% CI: -1.85 to -1.03) in IUI rate and a 21.6 percentage point reduction in the intraoperative detection rate. Additional hospital costs for stenting ranged from $1,464 - $4,436 across surgery types. Additional results varied by case but were consistent with the colectomy example.
Conclusions: While effective in limited settings, the IUI reduction attributed to stenting and ability to shift IUI detection to the intraoperative setting could not offset the hospital cost of stent placement during colectomy (and colorectal surgery, in general). There thus remains an ongoing need in colorectal surgery for a universal, cost-effective solution to prevent IUI.
Keywords: Colectomy; Colorectal surgery; Economic impact; Intraoperative ureteral injury; Pre-operative ureteral catheterization or stenting.
© 2023 by SLS, Society of Laparoscopic & Robotic Surgeons.