Comparing the Efficacy and Safety of Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy vs Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy for Lower Calyceal Stones 1-2 cm

Purpose: To distinguish the ESWL and PCNL treatment procedures of 1-2 cm of lower calyceal renal calculi in order to assess the ability and safety of the procedures.Materials and Methods: Patients that undergone treatments within the time frame of June 2015 to March 2018 was selected for the study. 220 patients were identified, where; they were diagnosed with stone size ranging from 1-2 cm in lower calyceal. Selected patients were grouped into to Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL) and Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy (PCNL) groups. The demographic information comprising age, gender, size of the stone, operation time and stone-free rate (SFR) was collected and analyzed. After the operation, identified patients were tested with stone detection procedure (KUB and US) and CT scan at day 10th and 12th week respectively.Result: It was observed that both groups were eligible for preoperative parameters comparison. The mean (SD) of operating time was significantly longer for Group B [6.71 (38) mins] compared to Group A, yet statistically significant as the p-value was <0.001. On the other hand, the SFR value obtained for both groups were different, 27% and 82% for Group A and Group B respectively.Conclusion: In summary, it was proven that both ESWL and PCNL treatment procedures are comparable for treating lower calyceal stones ranging from 1-2 cm. Despite having the longer hospital stay and intraoperative complications, PCNL was observed to have longer operating time compared to ESWL. Besides that, PCNL also possesses a higher tendency of post-operative infection as the SFR value obtained was higher than ESWL.