Putting in a nephrostomy catheter
Nephrostomy catheter to drain urine from the kidney
A nephrostomy catheter is a small tube that we can put through the skin into your kidney to drain urine (pee).
Preparing for the procedure
If you are staying in hospital (an inpatient), your kidney doctor, clinical nurse specialist or ward nurse will help you to prepare for the procedure.
If you are not staying in hospital (an outpatient), there are some things that can help you to prepare.
Tips to prepare for your procedure
Do
- Contact the interventional radiology (IR) department in advance if you need a hoist (piece of medical equipment to help lift or move you safely), transport or a translator.
- Continue to take your usual medicines, unless the IR doctor or nurse gives you different advice.
- Tell us if you take any antiplatelet medicines (like aspirin or clopidogrel) or anticoagulant medicines (like warfarin or rivaroxaban). These are medicines that help to prevent blood clots. You may need to stop them temporarily before the procedure. When you get your appointment letter, you can call the interventional radiology (IR) department for advice.
- Call the interventional radiology (IR) department for advice when you get your appointment letter if you take medicines for diabetes (like metformin) or use insulin. You may need to make some changes to your diabetes treatment near the time of the procedure.
Don't
- Do not eat or drink anything (except water) for 6 hours before the procedure. You can drink water until 2 hours before the procedure. A member of the interventional radiology (IR) department gives you specific guidance about this before the procedure (fasting instructions).
On the day of the procedure
On the day of the procedure, please arrive 15 minutes before your appointment time (if you are not staying in hospital). This allows time to prepare.
You can ask the IR doctor any questions that you have. We ask you to sign the hospital consent form confirming that you agree to have the procedure.
We give you a hospital gown to wear and put a small plastic tube called a cannula into your arm. During the procedure, we can give you medicine through this tube.
Giving your permission (consent)
We want to involve you in decisions about your care and treatment. If you decide to have a nephrostomy catheter, we will ask you to sign a consent form. This says that you understand what is involved and agree to have the treatment.
You can read more about our consent process.
During the procedure
You usually have the procedure under a local anaesthetic. This means that you are awake for the procedure. We give you the local anaesthetic medicine as an injection under the skin to make the area being treated numb.
Most people also have conscious sedation. This is when we give you 2 other medicines through your cannula to relax you and ease your pain. You often forget most of the procedure afterwards. However, you are awake enough to breathe for yourself and communicate with staff during the procedure.
What happens during the procedure
- We take you to the interventional radiology (IR) operating theatre and ask you to lie on your stomach on the table.
- We attach monitoring equipment to you for measuring your blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen level in your blood throughout the procedure.
- We clean your skin and inject the local anaesthetic medicine into your back to make the area numb. You should not feel any pain after this. We also give you the sedation medicines.
- The IR doctor uses ultrasound and fluoroscopy imaging to put the nephrostomy catheter into your kidney. Fluoroscopy is a type of medical imaging that shows a continuous X-ray picture on a monitor, like an X-ray movie.
- The nephrostomy catheter is held in place by a stitch (suture) to your skin and dressing. The outside end of the catheter is connected to a bag that collects your urine.
There is a chance that the IR doctor may not be able to get access to your kidney's urine collecting system. This could be for several possible reasons, such as if your kidney is not in the usual position. If this happens, the IR doctor will talk to you about other options.
How the procedure feels
The local anaesthetic injection does sting for a little while. You should not have any pain during the procedure itself, but may feel a pushing sensation when we put in the catheter.
Lying on your stomach during the procedure may be uncomfortable for a short period.
If you feel any pain during the procedure, please tell the nurse. They can then give you more pain medicine through the tube in your arm.
Resource number: 0036/VER6
Last reviewed: March 2024
Next review due: March 2027
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