PURPOSE To study the efficiency and safety of holmium:YAG laser lithotripsy for ureteral stones. PATIENTS AND METHODS A series of 188 patients with 208 ureteral stones were treated with semirigid ureteroscopy and holmium:YAG laser lithotripsy from January 2003 to December 2005. Of the stones, 116 were lower ureteral, 37 middle ureteral, and 55 upper ureteral. RESULTS The success rate was 92...

INTRODUCTION We have previously described the use of ureteroscopy-assisted retrograde nephrostomy. However, reaching the target calyx with the ureteroscope is difficult in patients with obstructive renal pelvic stones. CASE PRESENTATION A 53-year-old Japanese woman was referred to our department for the treatment of a right renal stone. She was admitted to our department for percutaneous neph...

PURPOSE Report and review the literature on ureteral avulsion as a rare complication of ureteroscopy. MATERIALS AND METHODS We analyzed 3 cases of ureteral avulsion in a series of 4,645 ureteroscopic procedures performed from January 1990 to December 2001. We especially report the different managements for this complication. RESULTS Due to the different extent of the injury, each patient wa...

Ureteroscopy has evolved in many aspects, particularly in the flexibility and size of ureteroscopes. We have developed a new detachable access sheath to make ureteroscopic procedures more straight-forward and to reduce possible damage to delicate instruments used in the procedure.

We thank the editor Dr. Bres-Niewada for her comments on our papers [1, 2] on the efficacy and outcomes for ureteroscopy in patients with solitary kidney. URS and RIRS have now been shown to be effective in all types of patient groups including paediatric patients [4]. Our results support successful use of this technique for patients with solitary kidney, as a day case procedure with some impro...

conclusions: administration of α-1a-specific blocker reduced analgesic dosage and colic episodes and rate of adverse effects after ureteroscopic lithotripsy of lower ureteral stones and decreased gravel expulsion time after ursl. results: the results showed that tamsulosin treatment group had low expulsion time (p = 0.011), low urinary tract symptoms, least analgesic needs and low adverse effec...

Background: Extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (SWL) is a procedure commonly performed to treat nephrolithiasis, with promising results in pediatric patients. However, increasing renal calculi size is directly related to worsening stone-free rates. There are few reports in the literature of >2-cm staghorn calculi that expound on the exact mechanism of treatment in the pediatric population. Ca...

PURPOSE To evaluate the prevalence and type of rigid ureteroscopy complications and suggest a new method for ureteral avulsion prevention. MATERIALS AND METHODS Between March 2002 and March 2009, we retrospectively evaluated 2955 patients who had undergone diagnostic or therapeutic ureteroscopy for asymptomatic hematuria, migrated ureteral stent, or transurethral lithotripsy. They were enroll...

This article addresses the respective roles of shock wave lithotripsy (SWL), percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL), ureteroscopy (URS), open surgery and laparoscopy as they pertain to the management of lower pole calculi, an area of ongoing controversy. Lower pole stones that are symptomatic, locally obstructing, infection related, or increasing in size require intervention. Smaller, asymptomatic...