Single stones of the lower pole of the kidney - Comparative results of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy and percutaneous nephrolithotomy

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) and percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCN) as a treatment for stones of the lower pole of the kidney and to compare their morbidity according to the stone size. Methods: We retrospectively studied 739 patients treated for a single stone of the lower pole. Group I consisted of 666 patients treated by ESWL and group II consisted of 73 patients treated by PCN. Results: These were assessed at 3 months for 587 ESWL patients (88%) and at day 1 for all PCN patients on renal tomography or ultrasonography. Respec tively in groups I and II, 335 patients (57%) and 53 patients (72.6%) were stone-free (p = 0.01). For medium-size (10-20 mm) stone patients, stone-free represented 102 patients (44%) and 29 patients (72.5%) in groups I and II respectively (p = 0.001). For smaller stones (<10 mm), stone-free represented 231 patients (69%) and 21 patients (84%) in groups I and II respectively (p = 0.12). Morbidity rate was less with ESWL than with PCN. Conclusions: PCN achieves better results than ESWL for single stone of the lower pole with statistical significance for middle-size stones but with higher morbidity.