Effects of three kinds of minimally invasive methods on impacted upper ureteric calculi

Objective To compare the efficacy and safety of transurethral ureteroscope lithotripsy(URL), the minimally invasive percutaneous nephrolithotomy(MPCNL) and laparoscopic ureterolithotomy(LU) in treating impacted upper ureteric calculi. Methods A total of 229 cases of upper ureteral calculi from Jan 2012 to Oct 2017 were treated with ureteroscopic lithotripsy, percutaneous nephrolithotomy and laparoscopic ureterolithotomy. The operation time, bleeding volume, postoperative hospitalization time, postoperative complications, the stone clearance rates at 3 days and 1 month after operation were compared. Results There were significant differences in the amount of bleeding among the three groups (URL group 0.05). The postoperative hospitalization time of LU group was significantly better than that of MPCNL group and URL group (P 0.05). Conclusions All of the three methods achieved good effects on impacted upper calculi, with no significant differences in the rate of postoperative complications. High stone-free rate can be obtained MPCNL and LU for impacted upper ureteral calculi. The stone-free rate is slightly lower with URL. Key words: Ureteric calculi; Ureteroscopes; Minimally invasive percutaneous nephrolithotomy; Laparoscopic ureterolithotomy