Pediatric Flexible Ureteroscopic Lithotripsy: The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Experience

Purpose: Therapeutic options currently available for urinary stones include shock wave lithotripsy, percutaneous nephrolithotomy and ureteroscopic treatment. While these treatment options have become the standard of care in the adult population, the same has not necessarily been applied to the pediatric population, despite an increasing prevalence of stone disease in children. We report our flexible ureteroscopic experience with urinary stones in children. Materials and Methods: A total of 170 ureteroscopic treatments were performed. Demographic information was collected. Stone burden was measured in millimeters. Operative access, operative times, intraoperative complications, stone-free status and postoperative complications were evaluated. Results: A total of 167 children (89 boys and 78 girls) underwent 170 ureteroscopic procedures for urinary calculi. Mean patient age was 62.4 months at the time of the procedure (range 3 to 218). Mean followup was 19.7 months (range 6 to 39). Mean stone burden was 6.12 mm (range 3 to 24), with an average of 1.3 stones per patient. Retrograde access could not be obtained in 95 of the children (57%). No ureters were actively dilated. Flexible ureteroscopy was performed in all cases regardless of stone location. Stone clearance was 100% for stone burdens 10 mm. or less and 97% for burdens greater than 10 mm. after 1 ureteroscopy. Conclusions: Pediatric ureteroscopy is a safe and efficacious modality in the treatment of all upper urinary tract calculi, including lower pole calculi.