Treatment of upper urinary tract stones by ultrasound guided lithotripsy in percutaneous nephrolithotomy (report of 120 cases)

Objective To study the efficacy and safety of ultrasound guided lithotripsy in percutaneous nephrolithotripsy (PCNL) for upper urinary tract stones. Methods Clinical data of 120 renal stones cases who underwent ultrasound guided PCNL from February 2007 to December 2008 were retrospectively analyzed. The operations were done by using ultrasonic and pneumatic lithotripter system (EMS Ⅲ). If the stones were easy to shatter, we used ultrasonic lithotripter, pneumatic lithotripter or both of them when the stones were hard. Results All 120 cases operation procedure were successful, the operative time was 45-170 min, the average time was 85min. No severe complications were observed during the operations. 12 cases had severe hemorrhage postoperation, 9 cases with successful conservative therapy, one was succesfully treated by hyperselective embolization while 2 cases with nephrectomy. Conclusions Treatment of renal stones by ultrasound guided PCNL is an effective and minimally invasive approach.