ABSTRACT
<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Amplatz dilation and balloon dilation are different methods in creating the accesses during percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL). The aim of this study was to review the surgical experiences of managing staghorn calculi by Amplatz dilation and balloon dilation for 3 years.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We retrospectively analyzed clinical data from 125 patients (129 kidneys) with staghorn kidney stones who underwent PCNL from January 2010 to December 2012, of whom 60 patients underwent Amplatz dilation (AD group) and 65 underwent balloon dilation (BD group) during PCNL.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The AD and BD groups were similar in age, male-female ratio, stone burden, stone type, hydronephrosis, and proportion of patients who had undergone extracorporeal lithotripsy. However, these two groups showed significant differences in terms of duration of percutaneous access (15.1 ± 3.6) minutes vs. (10.0 ± 3.3) minutes, one-attempt success rate of dilation via a single access 88.9% (72/81) vs. 97.8% (91/93), hemoglobin drop after surgery (3.5 ± 0.9) g/dl vs. (1.7 ± 0.9) g/dl, number of cases requiring intraoperative and postoperative blood transfusion 27.9% (n = 17) vs. 13.2% (n = 9), changes of central venous pressure before and after surgery (2.3 ± 1.2) cmH2O vs. (1.2 ± 0.7) cmH2O, number of patients who experienced postoperative fever >37.5°C 21 (34.4%) vs. 13 (19.1%) (all P < 0.05). No injury of adjacent organs, including pleura, liver, spleen, or bowel, was noted in patients.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>During ultrasound-guided PCNL for staghorn stones, balloon dilation and Amplatz dilation are all effective and safe. Compared with Amplatz dilation, balloon dilation is a better choice, as it has a higher access creation success rate, shorter access creation time less blood loss, and lower proportions of circulatory overload and postoperative fever.</p>