Total tubeless ultra-mini supine percutaneous nephrolithotomy: A feasibility study

The ultra-mini percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) for treating low-volume renal nephrolithiasis is being used as an alternative modality to the conventional PCNL. However its use in the supine position has been scarcely reported.

Patients who underwent ultra-mini PCNL in the supine position within the time frame of January 2017 to July 2017 were studied. All these patients had this as their first-line treatment. The patients had calculus limited to either a single calyx or just extending to the pelvis and the stone size was less than 2 cm in its maximal dimension. An 8.5 Fr operating nephroscope was used. The patients were positioned in the Galdakao modified Valdivia supine position. The stones were fragmented using Holmium-YAG laser. Various surgical outcomes including duration of the surgery, stone-free rate and any subsequent complications-if any-were analyzed.

The study includes a series of 14 patients with 15 renal units (one patient treated with bilateral renal stone disease). The mean age of the patients was 39.07 years and body mass index was 25.5 kg/m². Intrarenal stone location was as follows: lower calyx, n=8; middle calyx, n=3, upper calyx, n=1, and pelvis, n=3. Median operative time was 52.66 min (range: 40-70) and the stone-free rate was 93.3%. Only one patient had residual fragments and needed subsequent extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy.

Ultra-mini PCNL in supine position with a complete tubeless approach for renal stone disease is a safe method for treating low-volume disease. Studies with a larger cohort may be required to finally validate this technique.