Myc. Wong, EVOLVING TECHNIQUE OF PERCUTANEOUS NEPHROLITHOTOMY IN A DEVELOPING-COUNTRY - SINGAPORE GENERAL-HOSPITAL EXPERIENCE, Journal of endourology, 12(5), 1998, pp. 397-401
At our institution, percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) is the preferr
ed treatment modality for renal calculi with a large stone burden (exa
mple, staghorn calculi) and renal calculi which have failed extracorpo
real shockwave lithotripsy (SWL), The aim of this paper is to present
the technical refinements in PCNL and the results obtained by a single
surgeon. From June 1995 to July 1997, 135 PCNL procedures were perfor
med on 114 renal units, The mean age of the patients in the series was
51 years, The PCNL was performed on 28 complete staghorn calculi (25
%), 24 partial staghorn calculi (21%), 25 large renal calculi (22%), 2
6 impacted ureteropelvic junction calculi (22%), 5 impacted ureteral s
tones (4%), and 6 symptomatic lower-pole calculi (5%), Most patients (
97%) had a successful outcome (82% stone-free and 15% only insignifica
nt residual fragments), Of the four failures, three had previous open
renal split operations. The average postoperative stay was 5.2 days. O
nly one patient (0.7%) had urosepsis, and another had an arteriovenous
fistula and was the only patient to require blood transfusion in our
series, Only 21% (n = 24) required SWL after PCNL, and one patient req
uired ureteroscopy, Technical refinements in PCNL include: (1) single-
stage PCNL with percutaneous access obtained by the urologist in the o
perating room; (2) flexible endoscopy to inspect the whole pelvicalice
al system systematically; (3) liberal use of secondary PCNL to ensure
stone-free status; and decreased reliance on SWL after PCNL, The trend
is to rely on PCNL monotherapy to manage staghorn calculi rather than
PCNL and SWL combination therapy.