A systematic review and meta-analysis of outcomes between dusting and fragmentation in retrograde intrarenal surgery

Abstract

Objectives Comparing stone-free rates and associated outcome measures between two surgical modalities of lithotripsy fragmentation and removal or spontaneous passage of dust during retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS). Methods In March 2023, we conducted a literature search in several widely used databases worldwide, including PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar. We only considered English articles and excluded pediatric patients. Reviews and protocols without any published data were excluded. We also excluded articles with conference abstracts and irrelevant content. We used the Cochran-Mantel–Haenszel method and random-effects models to assess inverse variances and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for mean differences in categorical variables. The results were reported as odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results Our final meta-analysis included nine articles, comprising two randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and seven cohort studies. The total number of patients included in these studies was 1326, and all studies used holmium laser lithotripsy. The pooled analysis of the dust and fragmentation groups showed that the fragmentation group had a higher stone-free rate (OR 0.6; 95% CI 0.41 – 0.89; p = 0.01); the dust group had a shorter operative time (WMD – 11.6 min; 95% CI – 19.56 – –3.63; p = 0.004); and the dust group had a higher retreatment rate (OR 2.03; 95% CI 1.31 – 3.13; p = 0.001). There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of length of hospital stay, overall complications, or postoperative fever. Conclusions Our results showed that both procedures could be safely and effectively used for upper ureteral and renal calculi lithotripsy, the dust group had potential advantages over the fragmentation group in terms of the operation time, and the fragmentation group had certain advantages in terms of stone-free rate and retreatment rate.

Verification of surgical factors affecting the efficiency of stone extraction with one-surgeon basketing technique using a f-URSL simulation model

“…‘Basketing’ and ‘dusting’ have emerged as the two main strategies for f-URSL [ 6 ], but it is unclear which strategy is superior. A recent meta-analysis concluded that the basketing strategy led to significantly higher stone-free rate and lower retreatment rate (p=0.01 and p=0.001, respectively), while the dusting group had significantly shorter operative time (p=0.004) [ 7 ]. Three advantages of performing stone extractions compared with dusting are that all stone fragments can be completely extracted, that stone component analysis can be performed, and the lower total laser energy and thermal damage to the urothelium compared with dusting [ 8 ].…”