What is Nephrostomy?

A nephrostomy is a procedure in which a catheter (tube) is placed into the kidney. The catheter is guided into the kidney by CT scan or ultrasound .

A nephrostomy is done to drain urine from your kidney. This needs to be done when urine cannot come out through the ureters, bladder, and urethra as it normally does. Specific conditions that may cause this include:

• Damage to the bladder
• Blockage in ureter (tube that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder) due to:

• Infection
• Tumor
• Kidney stone

Kidney Stone © 2009 Nucleus Medical Media, Inc.

A nephrostomy may also be used to look at the kidneys and ureters before other procedures are done, like kidney stone removal. This may also help your doctor make a diagnosis.

Possible Complications

Complications are rare, but no procedure is completely free of risk. If you are planning to have a nephrostomy, your doctor will review a list of possible complications, which may include:

• Bleeding
• Infection
• Damage to nearby organs and tissue
• Kidney function loss
• Blood clots
• Reaction to the anesthesia (eg, light-headedness, low blood pressure, wheezing)
• Pain

Factors that may increase the risk of complications include:

• Liver failure
• Pregnancy
• Use of blood thinners
• Long-term illness

Call Your Doctor

After arriving home, contact your doctor if any of the following occurs:

• Catheter problems:

• Urine no longer drains
• Catheter is bent or twisted
• Leakage around the catheter
• Signs of infection,...