"Tubeless" percutaneous surgery: a new advance in the technique of percutaneous renal surgery

We describe our modification of the technique of traditional percutaneous renal surgery called "tubeless" percutaneous renal surgery. Fifty patients have now undergone percutaneous renal procedures without the use of a postoperative nephrostomy tube consisting of percutaneous nephrolithotripsy, percutaneous endopyelotomy, and both percutaneous stone extraction and endopyelotomy in the same setting. Our current modification of standard percutaneous surgical technique includes the placement of an internal ureteral catheter with primary closure of the access site using hemostatic skin sutures. The study group was compared to a control group of 50 patients who were age, sex and procedure matched who had undergone standard percutaneous renal procedures previously with routine placement of postoperative nephrostomy tubes. The incidence of complications, analgesia requirements, length of hospitalization, time of return to normal activities, and cost of treatment were compared between the two groups. All tubeless percutaneous procedures were successfully performed without significant complications. The initial 15 patients had postoperative renal ultrasounds demonstrating no urinoma. Hospital stay, analgesia requirements, and the patient's ability to return to normal activities were statistically significantly decreased in the patient group studied. The cost of a "tubeless" procedure was $1,638 compared with $3,750 (129% greater) for traditional percutaneous surgery (cost saving of $2,112/case). Tubeless percutaneous renal surgery is a safe procedure and offers advantages over the routine placement of a nephrostomy tube. The hospitalization period, analgesia requirements, return to normal activities, and cost are significantly less with this new technique.