ABSTRACT
Background: Urolithiasis, in general, constitutes a significant volume of the daily clinical activities in our institution
Objective: To evaluate the outcome of ureteroscopies performed in patients admitted acutely with symptomatic ureteric calculi compared with elective ureteroscopies
Design: A retrospective review
Setting: Department of Urology, King Hamad University Hospital, Bahrain
Method: All ureteroscopy [URS] procedures performed for symptomatic ureteric calculi between 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2013 were reviewed. These procedures were divided into two groups: urgent URS and elective URS group. Both groups were comparable in personal and stone characteristics
Result: One hundred ninety-five procedures were performed on 167 patients. One hundred twenty-seven [65.1%] procedures were urgent and 68 [34.9%] were elective. The cohort included 131 males and 36 females with a mean age of 41.5 years, a range of 19 to 74. One hundred fortynine [76.4%] procedures were performed on male patients, while 46 [23.5%] were performed on female patients. The mean stone size for patients undergoing urgent URS was 7.7 mm and 8.3 mm for elective procedures; approximately one-third of patients had more than one stone. Eighty-one stones in the urgent group were distally located; fifty-seven were in the elective group. The most common indication for urgent URS was pain refractory to injectable analgesia. LASER was used in 182 [93.3%] procedures, 179 [91.7%] procedures were urgent. Seventeen [8.7%] complications were documented for urgent URS and 8 [4.1%] for elective cases, no statistical significance, P value = 0.74
Conclusion: Urgent URS procedure is a safe and cost effective option compared with Elective URS. It should be the preferred option when resources and expertise are available