Khurshid Ghani, MBChB, MS, FRCS, on current barriers to stent omission

The SOUL trial (NCT05866081) is an ongoing study to assess patient-reported outcomes and unplanned health care utilization among patients who had stent placement vs patients who had stent omission following ureteroscopy for stones.

In an interview with Urology Times®, Khurshid R. Ghani, MBChB, MS, FRCS, discussed how results from this study may shape clinical decision-making, as well as some of the current barriers to stent omission in real-world practice. 

Ghani is a clinical professor of urology and the program director of the Michigan Urological Surgery Improvement Collaborative (MUSIC) at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

The SOUL trial will include both a randomized cohort and an observational-only cohort. In total, the investigators plan to enroll approximately 800 patients across 16 trial centers in the US. Patients in the study need to be planned for unilateral ureteroscopy and lithotripsy for stone disease and their largest stone must be 10 mm or smaller in size.¹

Overall, the study is intended to provide evidence on whether stent omission increases patients’ pain or unplanned health care utilization, as well as insight on why physicians are choosing to place a stent or not.

Ghani concluded, “Our goal is to study this properly, provide the evidence to the community, and if the data shows that stent omission is safe, then then I feel that will be the next step in seeing that this becomes a practice changing trial.”

REFERENCE

1. Stent omission after ureteroscopy and lithotripsy in the Michigan Urological Surgery Improvement Collaborative. ClinicalTrials.gov. Last updated May 30, 2024. Accessed June 17, 2025. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05866081