Snail-headed catheter retriever: a simple way to remove catheters from female patients.

A snail-headed catheter retriever was designed to remove the Double-J* catheter from female patients. The catheter can be removed within a few minutes using topical anesthesia at the outpatient department without endoscopic instrumentation and lithotomy position. No infection or bleeding developed following the procedure and all patients tolerated it well. The cost-effective retriever can be used as a convenient alternative for Double-J catheter removal from female patients.