The clinical outcomes of flexible ureteroscopy and laser lithotripsy (FURSL) for treatment of the upper urinary tract calculi

PURPOSE: To evaluate efficacy and safety of flexible ureteroscopy and laser lithotripsy (FURSL) for treatment of the upper urinary tract calculi. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 784 patients who underwent FURSL between January 2015 and October 2020 in our unit. All patients were preoperatively evaluated with urine analysis, serum biochemistry, urinary ultrasonography, non-contrast computed tomography and intravenous urography. The procedure was considered as successful in patients with complete stone disappearance or fragments < 4 mm on B ultrasound or computed tomography. The operative parameters, postoperative outcomes and complications were recorded and analyzed respectively. RESULTS: The average operative time and postoperative hospital stay were 46.9 +/- 15.8 min and 1.2 +/- 1.1 days, respectively, among 784 patients. In addition, 746 patients were followed up and 38 patients were lost. In these patients, 700 (93.8%) cases met the stone removal criteria and 46 cases (6.2%) did not meet the stone removal criteria who need further treatment. The stone free rate (SFR) is 92.5% after 1-3 months and SFR of middle and upper calyceal calculi was higher than that of lower calyceal calculi significantly. The most common complications were fever (58/784, 7.4%), gross hematuria (540/784, 68.9%) and lpsilateral low back pain (47/784, 6.0%). The incidence rate of serious complication was 1.28% (10/784), including 5 cases of septic shock and 5 cases of subcapsular hematoma, which were cured after active treatment. CONCLUSION: FURSL is a reliable treatment for small and medium calculi patients of upper urinary tract. The curative effect of stone removal is clear. The complications are few and the safety is high. However, there are certain limitations to the efficacy in treating larger stone and lower calyceal calculi.