An experience with percutaneous nephrostolithotomy

A review of percutaneous nephrostolithotomy (PNL) done at Nottingham, City Hospital during January 1985 to April 1987 was undertaken. During this period 113 patients underwent the procedures. The study was confined to 92 patients who had complete case records. Initially 81 patients successfully had percutaneous nephrostolithotomy. Simple extraction were done in 21 (22.8%) patients, USL in 55 (56.5%) while a combination of USL and EHL was done in 8 (8.7%) patients. The overall stone clearance without further manipulations, was 70.6% but with further manipulations the clearance rate rose to 84.8%, suggesting that with increased expertise, one would expect the clearance to be near 100%.