Randomized and prospective trial comparing tract creation using plasma vaporization with balloon dilatation in...

WHAT'S KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT? AND WHAT DOES THE STUDY ADD?: Use of balloon dilatation leads to less blood transfusion rates than metallic dilators. Plasma vaporization leads to less blood loss than balloon dilatation in this study. The study evaluates a novel technique for the creation of a nephrostomy tract for PCNL. Compared with other techniques, plasma vaporization is a safer procedure that causes lesser blood loss, requires a shorter hospital stay, causes less radiation exposure, and enables easier nephrostomy tract creation for PCNL.

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of plasma vaporization for tract creation in percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL).

In this randomized prospective trial we enrolled 65 patients and assigned each to one of two groups: 33 patients were randomly scheduled to undergo plasma vaporization and 32 were scheduled to undergo balloon dilatation for tract creation. A bipolar resectoscope mounted with a plasma vaporization button electrode or a traditional balloon dilator were used to create the nephrostomy tract.

The mean blood loss, mean length of hospital stay and mean operating time, stone-free rates and postoperative complications in the two groups were compared using the t-test or chi-squared test (Fisher's exact test). The plasma vaporization group had a significantly lower mean (SD) decrease in haematocrit level (3.5 [2.8]% vs 6.6 [3.3]%; P = 0.02) and a shorter mean (SD) hospital stay (2.6 [1.2] days vs 5.3 [3.4] days; P = 0.0). There were no significant differences in the operating time, stone-free rate or cases of postoperative fever between the two groups.

The plasma vaporization technique is safe, leads to less blood loss than the other techniques, and is a simple solution for creating the nephrostomy tract for PCNL.