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UROLOGIST DESIGNED

A Ureteral Stent Designed for Patient Comfort

Designed by Dr. Lee Ponsky, Chair of University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center’s Urology Department to alleviate the most common issues associated with ureteral stent pain, urine reflux and bladder spasms, which together have shown to impact up to 80% of stent patients.

Similar to all ureteral stents, the RELIEF™ Stent provides for the passage of urine from the kidney to the bladder. Yet its unique suture design of the distal stent portion allows the ureteral orifice (UO) to close naturally and reduce urine refluxing up the ureter as is often seen with standard stents, which hold the UO open due to tubular stent body design.

In addition, RELIEF’s distal coil floats in the bladder, which restricts the bladder coil from touching the trigone area of the bladder. Bladder spasms are often caused by the distal coil of standard stents touching the trigone region in the bladder, causing patient discomfort and pain.

The RELIEF stent is an important improvement in ureteral stents and reduces complications from the two primary causes of stent discomfort.

patient with relief ureteral stent

Request the RELIEF™ Ureteral Stent specifications & instructions for use.

flank pain from ureteral stent

Urologists Know

Up to 80% of ureteral stent patients face complications

Ureteral stents are characterized by considerable discomfort in the majority of patients. This can lead to significant reductions in quality of life, considerable pain, a frequent emergency department visits and a high cost of care.

Why is this problem so prevalent? Ureteral stents are used to relieve renal obstruction or as a scaffold to promote healing after endoscopic or open/ laparoscopic surgeries involving the ureter.

Yet the common “double pigtail” stent design prevents the patient’s ureter from opening and closing naturally. Plus its bladder coil can lie on the trigone area of the bladder.

The result? Reflux, flank pain and bladder spasms in the majority of your patients which lead to patient dissatisfacitn and increased cost of care due to medication use and stent removal, often during the nighttime.

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A product of the Ureteral Stent Company
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Introducing the RELIEF Ureteral Stent

The RELIEF Stent is a single use, disposable ureteral stent (US) device, intended to relieve obstruction in a variety of benign, malignant and post-traumatic conditions in the ureter.

Featuring a unique bladder coil design that is tethered with a suture, the RELIEF Stent floats in the bladder, reducing urine reflux, flank pain & bladder spasms.

relief ureteral stent

What Is It?

RELIEF Stent is a single use, disposable ureteral stent device.

relief stent tether

Minimizes Reflux

The RELIEF Stent uses a low-profile suture tether to minimize the potential of urinary reflux by allowing the ureteral orifice to close naturally around the suture.

relief stent distal coil

Distal Coil Floats in Bladder

The Polymeric distal coil floats, reducing associated bladder spasms and patient pain by avoiding contact with the trigone region of the bladder

Cost-Effective

Reduce emergency room visits, readmissions & replacement costs

How It Works

The RELIEF Stent unique suture design allows for the patient’s ureteral orifice to close naturally, eliminating urine reflux flowing back to the kidney during urination. This prevents common stent associated flank pain, which is a major cause of patient discomfort with conventional stents.

In addition, the RELIEF Stent’s tethered bladder coil floats, preventing the coil from resting on the trigone region, and reducing bladder spasms and associated pain.

The RELIEF Stent is placed very similarly to standard ureteral stents using endoscopic surgical techniques or percutaneously using standard radiographic technique. A pusher tube is used to deliver the stent into position over a urology guidewire).

Insertion Guide Video

Healthcare Professionals Appreciate The RELIEF Stent

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Urologist Designed

The RELIEF Stent was developed by Dr. Lee Ponsky, Founder, Professor and Chair of Urology at University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio.

Dr. Ponsky designed this stent after conducting countless successful surgical proceduresand witnessing ureteral stents cause considerable discomfort in a large number of patients. After experiencing kidney stones himself and the pain caused by the ureteral stent, he realized there wasn’t a single product on the market that addressed the two most common causes of pain, reflux and bladder spasms. .

Researching this issue, Dr. Ponsky found that 80% of patients requiring a ureteral stent experienced a lower quality of life and 60% required intervention. Finding these figures unacceptable, Ponsky was determined to develop a product that was intuitive to place and not a change in practive, yet addressed urine reflux, flank pain & bladder spasms. Ponsky begin work on a concept, supported by a scientific advisory board consisting of industry leaders in kidney-stone management.

The result of their work is the RELIEF™ Ureteral Stent, designed to be similar to existing ureteral stents using the same proven materials, but possessing the unique feature of a distal pigtail design which is tethered by a suture which allows it to float in the bladder.

Dr. Lee Ponsky, MD

RELIEF Ureteral Stent Product Details

FDA Clearance Information

The RELIEF Ureteral Stent received FDA 510(k) clearance in March 2022, undergoing significant performance and biocompatibility testing.

Reimbursement Overview

The RELIEF Stent is covered by existing CPT codes for placement and removal of ureteral stents.

Hospital and Ambulatory Surgery Center payments are also available to cover the related procedures.

Package Contents

Provided as a procedure kit which contains:

  • ureteral stent
  • pigtail straightener
  • pusher tube

Urology guidewire not provided.

Ready to reduce patient issues, readmissions and replacement costs?

Learn more About the RELIEF Stent

Request the RELIEF™ Ureteral Stent specifications & instructions for use.

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