The Spanner™ Prostatic Stent
Men often find, as they age, that their prostate grows larger. Enlarged prostate is a common urology condition for older men that can cause difficult urinary symptoms including not being able to urinate.
The Spanner
The Spanner™ Prostatic Stent has been designed to open the urethra as it passes through the prostate. This allows patients to achieve urine flow and experience normal urination by reducing urethral resistance within the prostate.
The Spanner stent can be an alternative for some patients* to indwelling Foley catheterization, clean intermittent catheterization, or a suprapubic tube.
The Spanner temporary stent for the prostate:
- greatly preferred by patients over catheterization
- simple to insert and remove in the Urology office
- blind placement without visualization or cystoscopy
- well tolerated by patients, actually improves symptom scores
- permits bladder and sphincter to achieve normal urination
- improves urination efficiency by decreasing urine left in the bladder
- reduces time to bacterial colonization versus Foley catheter
The Spanner stent can be inserted in the Urology office without anesthesia or cystoscopy in a manner similar to the insertion of a urethral catheter. Removal of the stent is also performed in the Urology office. Clinical studies have shown the stent safely improves urine flow rates and decreases the amount of urine left in the bladder. Patients indicate the stent is well-tolerated and much preferred to a urethral catheter.
Developed by AbbeyMoor Medical, Inc. and FDA approved in 2006, The Spanner is the only temporary stent for the prostate available in the United States.
As the first and only temporary prostate stent to gain FDA approval, the possibilities of The Spanner stent in the urology armamentarium are still being discovered. Yet, for the urologist, the patient preference for the stent over indwelling catheterization has earned The Spanner stent an important role in their urology practice. “Life untethered,” said one patient. “Freedom from the Foley,” said another. “I got my life back with The Spanner stent,” one added.
*FDA approved Indications For Use:
The Spanner is intended for temporary use (up to 30 days) to maintain urine flow and allow voluntary urination in patients following minimally invasive treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and after initial post-treatment catheterization.
