Complications of endourological procedures and their treatment

Abstract

Endourological treatment for urinary stones and other obstructive urinary tract diseases is minimally invasive but in some cases it involves serious complications. This collection of cases describes some complications of endourological procedures and how they were treated. Case 1: A case of right ultrasound-guided percutaneous nephrostomy found to be misplaced in the inferior vena cava. The case was safely managed, but it showed that ultrasound guidance alone may be insufficient so it is recommended that percutaneous nephrostomy should be always placed under fluoroscopic control, either alone or in combination with ultrasound guidance. Case 2: A case of renal subcapsular hematoma occurring on retrograde intrarenal surgery at high perfusion pressure. The hematoma was drained under combined ultrasonic and radiological guidance. Post treatment recovery was uneventful. Large stone size, severe ipsilateral hydronephrosis, long operation time, higher hydrostatic pressure of the irrigating solution and low ureteral wall compliance are supposed to be risks factors associated with renal subcapsular formation. Management strategy should be tailored to patient’s clinical conditions. In hemodynamically stable patients, large hematoma drainage is recommended to prevent further complications and favours early recovery. Case 3: A case of double J stent fracture discovered one month after the insertion to relieve obstruction from a 1 cm stone in the right proximal ureter. The distal fragment of the stent was removed by cystoscopy while the proximal fragment was removed by semirigid ureteroscopy in two sessions due to fever and extensive calcification. Case 4: A mini-invasive technique for transurethral replacement of completely encrusted urinary stents in female patients. This technique allows the interventional radiologist to replace obstructed urinary stents by avoiding more invasive and traumatic urological procedures with sedation.

Management of encrusted ureteral stents: Two center experience

“…Although majority of the encrusted ureteral stent need multimodal management, Lio et al (17) From our results, the average total number of procedures carried out was 3 ± 1.08 with a range of 2 to 5 per EUS removal and the average time of hospital stays was 2.69 ± 1.43 days with a range of 1 to 6 days per EUS removal. Alnadhari et al (4) in their study reported a mean of 2.25 urologic procedures needed per EUS removal with a range of 1 to10 procedures performed in a single or multiple anesthetic sessions.…”

Do we have a limit for retrograde intrarenal surgery for solitary kidney stone?

“…However, some minor complications, such as haematuria, hydronephrosis, ureteral obstruction by stone fragments and ureteral double J stent dislocation, might be not significant in a patient with two functional kidneys but could be more important for patients with solitary kidneys requiring urgent intervention. Concern about the risk of renal dysfunction and subcapsular hematoma associated with the use of high-pressure irrigation during RIRS has been raised (13).…”