After Getting a Ureteral Stent: How to Care for Your Child

A ureteral (yuh-REE-teh-rel) stent is a small, hollow tube placed inside the ureter (the tube that leads from the kidney to the bladder). The stent helps urine (pee) pass from the kidney into the bladder (where pee is stored before it leaves the body). 

Some kids don't have any problems after a stent is placed. Others may have belly and back pain (from bladder spasms), blood in the pee, or pain when peeing, or get a urinary tract infection (UTI).

Follow these instructions to care for your child until the stent is removed.

Help your child drink plenty of liquids. This helps the pee flow through the stent, decreases pain, and lowers the amount of blood in the pee.

• Encourage your child to drink lots of liquids, especially water. Avoid carbonated and sugary drinks because they can irritate the bladder. 

• Send a water bottle to school or childcare so your child drinks while away from home.

Give all medicines as instructed by your health care provider. This may include:

• medicine for bladder spasms (from the stent irritating the bladder). Spasms can lead to belly and/or back pain and the need to pee often. Medicines can help relax the bladder and ease symptoms.

• antibiotics to prevent a urinary tract infection (UTI)

• other medicines for pain

Watch the amount of blood in the pee. It's normal for your child's pee to have blood in it on some days. If there's not too much blood (the pee may look like pink lemonade or cranberry juice), there's nothing to worry about. But more blood in the pee (it looks very dark red) can be a sign of bladder spasms or not drinking enough. Give your child the medicines that your urologist recommended and increase the amount your child drinks. If the pee doesn't get lighter or if it is thick (like tomato juice) or has clots in it, call your urologist.

Prevent constipation (hard, infrequent poops). Having surgery and taking certain medicines for bladder spasms and pain make it more likely someone will get constipated. Be sure your child eats plenty of fruits and vegetables, drinks a lot of liquids, takes regular bathroom breaks, and takes any medicines that the surgeon recommends.

Your child has:

• signs that the stent isn't working, such as new or worsening pain or vomiting

• hard poops that are difficult to pass or isn't pooping at least once a day

• signs of a UTI, such as fever, belly or back pain, or foul-smelling or cloudy pee

• dark red pee, blood clots in the pee, or thick red pee

Your child has a fever, shaking chills, or severe back pain.

Why do urologists place ureteral stents? Urologists place stents after surgery to keep the pee pathway open, to widen a narrow or blocked ureter, or to make way for a kidney stone to pass.

How long will the stent stay in? Your child's urologist will let you know. Some stents are needed for just a few days or a week. Others may stay in for several months.

How does the stent come out? If the stent is only going to be in place for a few days to a week, there may be a string attached to the end of it. This string will come out of the urethra (where pee comes out) and be taped to your child's leg. This type of stent is removed either at home or in the office, depending on what you and your urologist decide. Stents that are in place for several weeks or months are removed by the urologist in the operating room.