Acute hyponatremia and renal failure following percutaneous nephrolithotomy

Percutaneous extraction of big kidney stone without fragmentation: The novel technique in percutaneous nephrolithotomy (EN BLOC PCNL)

PCNL is gold standard treatment of pelvis stone more than 2 cm. Since 1970 that PCNL was introduced, multiple methods including mini PCNL, Lap assisted PCNL etc. were used to increase the efficacy and decrease the complications of PCNL in different patients. We describe a new method of PCNL for the first time for extracting 7 cm renal stone without fragmentation, and we called it EN BLOC PCNL. Our technique had no complication and caused lower operative time.

Visual clarity of irrigants used during flexible ureterorenoscopy: an in vitro comparison

Introduction

Saline solution is the standard irrigant used during ureteroscopy. However, there is an opinion that water has better visual clarity. We aimed to compare the visual clarities of saline, water, and 5% mannitol as an irrigant during ureteroscopy.

Material and methods

An in vitro model consisting of an irrigant-filled container and a fiberoptic flexible ureteroscope was designed. A 1951 USAF Resolution Test Target and color checker within irrigants were used to evaluate the clarity of vision. The visual clarity was compared for 0.9% saline, distilled water and 5% mannitol solution with screen resolution and color contrast. The tests were repeated after adding human blood (2/400 ml) and contrast (20/400 ml) to the irrigants.

Results

There was no significant difference in resolution values of three plain irrigants at a distance of 10 mm. However, when blood was added to the irrigants, a better resolution of 29.3% for water and 20.6% for mannitol was achieved compared to saline. At 20 mm of distance, it was observed that the difference was more pronounced in irrigants with blood. Water and mannitol had 55.6% and 37.1% better resolution than saline, respectively. In the color reproduction test, there was no significant difference in the three plain irrigants, however, water had better color contrast compared to the others.

Conclusions

Water and 5% mannitol did not provide a significant image clarity advantage compared to saline. However, when blood was added to the irrigants, water provided significantly better visual clarity compared to saline. The use of water during various clinical scenarios in flexible ureteroscopy should be further investigated.

Is normal saline the best irrigation fluid to be used during percutaneous nephrolithotomy in renal failure patient? A prospective randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVE

Endoscopic procedures like percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) needs continuous irrigation for better vision and to wash away stone fragments and blood clots. Systemic absorption of irrigation fluids may lead to fluid overload and electrolyte disequilibrium. Renal failure patients are more prone to these electrolyte disturbances. We have evaluated the outcomes of normal saline as irrigation solution to be used in renal failure patient in comparison to distilled water.

METHODS

Seventy-six patients with renal calculi were enrolled in this study between September, 2014, and December, 2015. All patients have compromised renal functions (creatinine >1.6 mg/dL). All patients were randomized into two groups as Group A (normal saline irrigation), and Group B (distilled water irrigation). Serum electrolytes, hemogram were measured pre- and post operatively.

RESULTS

The mean duration of irrigation was 53.34 min in Group A and 52.80 min in Group B (p=0.12). Serum sodium, potassium and hematocrit levels were changed significantly after the PCNL in Group B (p=0.03, 0.04 and 0.02, respectively). The most significant drop was observed in sodium level (139.21±3.65 vs. 136.20±4.10 mEq/L) in Group B. Though Hemoglobin drop was similar in both groups, there was a significant drop in hematocrit value in Group B (p=0.02).

CONCLUSION

Distilled water is associated with hyponatremia and drop in hematocrit level in renal failure patients. Serum potassium level may be significantly altered during distilled water irrigation. Normal saline is safe for PNCL in renal failure patient and its use should be recommended for this purpose.