[Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) in Reykjavik City Hospital 1985-1993.]

In the years 1985 to 1993, 92 patients, 61 men and 31 women, went to PCNL for stone removal at the Urology Department in the Reykjavik City Hospital, total 112 procedures. It was almost every patient who needed surgery for stone in the upper urinary tract. Most of the patients went home from the hospital in good health two or three days after the operation. Operation on the left kidney was more common (59%) than on the right one (41%). The stone size was 4-40 mm in diameter, mean 12 mm. In 70% of the operations there was one stone, but in 10% there were four stones or more. The procedure was done in two stages in 64% but in one stage in 36%. Stones in the upper ureter (26%) were first manipulated up into the renal pelvis. In 82% of the operations we did not have to disintegrate the stones but in 18% we used ultrasound or electrohydrolic-waves to do so. 87% of the patients needed only one operation. The results were that 87.5% of the patients were stonefree or had stonerests 4 mm or less after one procedure. Thirteen patients were taken more than once to PCNL, five of them got rid of their stones after repeated operations. Thus 90.2% of the 92 patients were managed successfully, that is stone-free or had stonerests smaller than 4 mm. No serious complications were noted. The most common complication was leakage of contrast media as a sign of perforation of the renal pelvis in 29 procedures. It always held without further complication within a few days with a nephrostomy.