Jonathon Olsburgh, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
A study which evaluates whether early stent removal will reduce complications such as infection and pain when compared to current practice.
Project summary: During kidney transplant surgery a plastic tube (stent) is placed in the transplant ureter, between the kidney and bladder. Their routine use reduces major post transplant urinary problems. However stent complications occur in around 20% of patients and studies suggest that these are related to the time the stent remains in the body. Currently stents are removed around 6 weeks after transplants under anaesthesia by cystoscopy (camera placed in the bladder). In one arm of this clinical trial, patients will have a stent inserted and secured by a suturing technique that will facilitate removal five days post surgery. Data will be collected to assess the expected decrease in surgical complications, improved patient experience and reduced hospital costs following early removal.
Support given by RDS London: RDS London provided guidance from start to finish of the grant application.
“RDS London provided useful experience that helped us navigate our way through the application process. We found the service to be a very useful resource to help us challenge and improve many aspects of our study and grant application - and we are very grateful to them for the support”.