Overview: role of stents in urology.

Catheterization of the urinary tract for drainage is the mainstay of urologic manipulations. Although the material of which the catheters are made changed during the years, they all remained external communicating devices, causing ascending infections and discomfort. A concept of completely internal catheters for use in urology developed during the last few decades. Although the first self-retaining internal ureteral catheters (stents) were developed for use in open surgical procedures or on malignant obstructions, later, they caused a considerable leap in the development of minimally invasive endourologic procedures. The development of intraurethral stents also started to change some of the approaches to the management of bladder outlet obstruction. This paper summarizes the subject of urologic stents, which is presented in detail in this special issue of the Journal of Endourology.