About The Spanner
What Is The Spanner™?
The Spanner is a medical device called a stent. The Spanner stent allows some men to urinate more comfortably as they recover from treatment for their enlarged prostate.
With the Spanner in place, when you want to go to the bathroom your body will function as it normally should. It will start and stop urination as normal. Your urine will flow through the Spanner’s tube and out of your body.
How Does It Work?
This image shows a Spanner inside the body.
The Spanner has a small balloon near the tip which stays inside the bladder. This balloon is used to keep the Spanner in place. The tube allows urine to flow from the bladder through the portion of the urethra that the enlarged prostate gland is blocking. It holds the urethra open even though the prostate is pressing on it. The tube does not go through the sphincter because if it did you would not be able to stop your urine from draining from your bladder. This is called incontinence or the accidental loss of urine. There are soft strings that do go through the sphincter, but they will not affect urination or cause accidental loss of urine. A soft tab connected to the strings is located at the other end of the stent. This tab keeps the stent from moving into the bladder. A retrieval string is tied to the Spanner, and is used to drain the balloon when it is time to remove the Spanner.
How does The Spanner go in?
The Spanner is inserted into your penis using an introducer. Before inserting the stent, your doctor may put a numbing gel into the urethra through the tip of your penis to help make you comfortable.
 The Spanner is advanced until the tip is inside the bladder. (Fig. 1) |
 The balloon is then inflated with sterile water. (Fig. 2) |
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 The introducer is then removed (Fig. 4), leaving the stent correctly positioned in the prostatic urethra. |
For more detailed information on The Spanner, please review the Patient Information Booklet by clicking on the link below.
Patient Information Booklet
Ask your doctor about The Spanner Prostatic Stent
