Risk factors of infectious complications following flexible ureteroscope with a holmium laser: a retrospective study

We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of flexible ureteroscope for treating kidney stones and the risk factors for infectious complications following flexible ureteroscope (FURS) with a holmium laser.

We retrospectively reviewed the data of 227 patients with kidney stones who underwent flexible ureteroscope with a holmium laser at our hospital from January 2012 to September 2014, including gender, age, comorbidity, urine analysis results, urine culture results, blood test results, stone size, operative duration, and residual stones. Patients with and without infectious complications were assigned to groups A and B, respectively. The dependent variables were postoperative infectious complications, and the risk factors for infectious complications following FURS were assessed using Chi-square tests and multivariate logistic regression analyses.

All the surgeries were successfully completed. The total stone-free rate was 81.9% (n = 186), and the incidence of infectious complications after FURS was 8.37% (n = 19). Fifteen patients (6.61%) developed fever postoperatively, 10 patients (4.41%) developed systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), 6 patients with fever were considered to have SIRS (2.64%), and 2 patients had sepsis (0.88%). Univariate analyses of groups A and B indicated that pyuria, stone size, operative duration, and infectious stones were risk factors for infectious complications after FURS (P < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analyses indicated that pyuria (P = 0.017), operative duration (P = 0.026), and infectious stones (P = 0.030) were independently related to infectious complications.

Pyuria, operative duration, and infectious stones were risk factors for infectious complications following FURS. Hence, routine urinalysis findings should be carefully considered, particularly the finding of pyuria.