Enhanced long-term performance of ureteral stents with functional coating: Combating bacterial adhesion and inhibiting encrustation

Long-term indwelling ureteral stents in urology surgeries often lead to severe encrustation and challenging clinical complications, necessitating an effective medical response. Although many researchers have started with antibacterial, anti-fouling and other aspects, the lack of direct urinary pertinence or develop drug resistance have not really improved the current situation of crust. Therefore, while giving full play to the excellent properties of coated anti-bacterial adhesion, it is still a challenging problem to ensure that it can be effectively applied to ureteral stents and urinary tract environment. Herein, this work proposes a practical functional coating to inhibit encrustation, achieved by incorporating the urinary crystal inhibitor citric acid to crosslink the polyvinylpyrrolidone with hydrophilic lubrication properties (PVP/CA). The coating based on charge interaction has excellent stability (peel strength up to 600 N/m) excellent wettability (contact angle reduced by 60°), lubricity (friction coefficient reduced by 4 times) and biocompatibility. More importantly, the synergistic anti-bacteria adhesion (>90 %) and inhibition of urinary tract crystallization properties of the coated ureteral stent demonstrate superior performance in preventing encrustation over a 4-week period in an in vitro model. This innovative coating strategy holds promising prospects for ureteral stents, offering a potential solution to alleviate pain in urological patients.