Abstract.A ureteral stenosis or occlusion causes the disturbance of normal urine flow and results in renal failure. Ureteral stents are used to relieve the stagnation of urine in the upper urinary tract. Peristalsis in the ureter, which occurs to help urine flow, becomes to weaken when a stent is inserted and effective peristalsis disappears as time goes on, and a stented ureter seems to be tubular and curved in the human body. Double J stents, which are manufactured by many medical companies and are used widely these days, have different geometries of side holes in the stent shafts. In total, 12 models-six curved models of a stented ureter according to different numbers and positions of side holes and ureteral and stent stenoses and another six straight models for comparison with the curved ones-were made based on the data collected from 19 men. The flow rate and pattern in the stented ureter were evaluated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). According to the results, curved models reflecting the human anatomy seem to be more desirable in the CFD simulation of urine flow and must be good for evaluating the effect of geometrical variations in stent design on urine flow.
Abstract.A double J stent has been used widely these days for patients with a ureteral stenosis or with renal stones and lithotripsy. The stent has multiple side holes in the shaft, which supply detours for urine flow. Even though medical companies produce various forms of double J stents that have different numbers and positions of side holes in the stent, the function of side holes in fluid dynamics has not been studied well. Here, the flow rate and pattern around the side holes of a double J stent were evaluated in curved models of a stented ureter based on the human anatomy and straight models for comparison. The total flow rate was higher in the stent with a greater number of side holes. The inflow and outflow to the stent through the side holes in the curved ureter was more active than in the straight ureter, which means the flow through side holes exists even in the ureter without ureteral stenosis or occlusion and even in the straight ureter. When the diameter of the ureter changed, the in-stent flow rate in the ureter did not change and the extraluminal flow rate was higher in the ureter with a greater diameter.
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