Feasibility of Totally Tubeless Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy Under the Age of 14 Years: A Randomized Clinical Trial

To assess the outcome and safety of the totally tubeless percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) in comparison with standard PCNL in the children under the age of 14 years. Twenty-three patients under the age of 14 with renal stones were enrolled in a prospective randomized clinical trial during March 2010 to June 2011. The inclusion criteria were existence of renal stone larger than 2.5 cm in diameter or extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy-resistant kidney stone; furthermore, exclusion criteria were kidney anomalies, renal failure on admission, and serious bleeding or perforation in the collecting system during the operation. The patients were divided into two groups according to block randomization. Group A comprised of 13 children with mean age 10.31 (4-14) years, were rendered totally tubeless at the end of surgery, while 10 patients in group B with mean age 11.1 (9-14) years underwent standard PCNL. The incidence of complications, transfusion rate, analgesic use, hemoglobin drop, operation time, and hospital stay were compared between the two groups during a one-month study period. The mean stone burden was 29.23 mm (SD=4.85) in group A versus 31.4 mm (SD=5.19) in group B. Hospitalization averaged 39.54 (SD=11.39) hours versus 58.7 (SD=10.37) (p