AUTHOR=Salciccia Stefano , De Marco Ferdinando , Sciarra Alessandro , Moriconi Martina , Alfarone Andrea , Polese Milena , Maggi Martina , Del Giudice Francesco , Gentilucci Alessandro , De Berardinis Ettore , Ricciuti Gian Piero 

TITLE=Allium stent as a curative treatment for benign ureteral strictures: Preliminary experience, surgical technique, and functional results

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Urology

VOLUME=Volume 2 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/urology/articles/10.3389/fruro.2022.984719

DOI=10.3389/fruro.2022.984719

ISSN=2673-9828

ABSTRACT=Objectives: to evaluate the effectiveness  and safety of Allium ureteral stent  as a curative treatment of benign ureteral strictures. 
Materials and Methods: We retrospectively review the electronic database of two centres of patients who underwent ureteral Allium positioning for different type of stenosis (benign or malignant). Between April 2017 and May 2021,  151 patients were treated with Allium stent for ureteral strictures including benign and malignant stenosis. 83 of them met the inclusion criteria for benign ureteral stricture and were included in final analysis. 
Results: About the etiology of strictures, 79 (95.18%) were secondary to ureteroscopy or impacted stones, 4 (4.82%) secondary to pelvic surgery. The median operating time was 47.9 ±15.53  min, and the median length of strictures was 2.51±0.84 (1-4) cm. The median time of follow-up was 18 months (range 1-48 months), the overall success rate was 85.5 % (71/83) and no intraoperative or perioperative major complications were recorded. Among patients with failure (12 pts, 14.5%): 10 (83.33%) presented again ureteral strictures, among them 8/10 were patients with a stricture length between 2 and 4 cm, 2 (16.67%) patients with pyelus-ureteral junction (UPJ) stenosis experienced migration of the stent. All patients who experienced failure were treated surgically either with robotic or laparoscopic approach.
Conclusions: in our preliminary experience, Allium stent seem be an effective and safe surgical treatment for benign ureteral stricture. Further analysis and prospective trials are necessary to better define the role of Allium stent in the treatment of benign ureteral strictures.