Efficiency of radiation-free retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) in children and evaluation of factors affecting surgical success.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the factors affecting surgical success rates and duration of operation in retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) without fluoroscopy in children. The aim of the study was to demonstrate the efficacy of RIRS without fluoroscopy on the treatment of renal stones in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All RIRS procedures were performed on pediatric patients at our clinic from August 2013 to January 2017. We studied 52 pediatric patients who had one stone in one kidney and under went one session. We mapped the kidney collecting system anatomically, and stone localization was defined according to this mapping. Size and localization of the stone, placement of preoperative J stent, use of ureteral access sheath (UAS), and surgical success rates were recorded. The effects of these factors on surgical success rates and the duration of the operations were analyzed.

RESULTS: Each patient underwent RIRS once. Of these 52 pediatric patients, 23 (44%) were between 0-5 years of age children (Group 1), 13 (25%) were between 6-11 years of age children (Group 2), and 16 (31%) were between 11-17 years of age children (Group 3). The surgical success rates for each group were 65%, 77%, and 81%, respectively (73% overall). The surgical success rates were found to be affected only by stone size (p<0.01). The durations of the operations were found to be affected by stone size, stone localization, passive dilatation of ureter, and the application of an UAS (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION: RIRS is a safe and effective method for the treatment of intrarenal stones in pediatric patients. High success rates can be achieved using kidney mapping without the use of fluoroscopy.