Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy: A Registry and Database

Kidney stones vary in size from a tiny grain of sand to as large as filling the inside of the kidney. Treatment decisions depend on the size, location, and composition of the stone. Some kidney stones can be treated with lithotripsy (breaking up stones inside the body with shock waves created outside the body) or ureteroscopy (placing a small telescope up the urine channel to remove the stone). When stones are large in size or in the lower part of the kidney, a percutaneous (making a passage from the back into the kidney) procedure has been found to be the best method to remove the stones safely and efficiently. A passage is made into the back to allow a small telescope to see the stone and break it into fragments for removal. A small catheter is placed at the end of the procedure to allow the kidney to drain.

The purpose of this study is to record information about your surgery into a database so we can look at how patients who have had this procedure have done over time. We hope that reporting the outcomes of this surgery will be helpful to urologists and patients in the future. There may be certain factors that can be identified through this study as having better outcomes that may help make future surgeries safer.