The clinical efficacy of novel vacuum suction ureteroscopic lithotripsy in the treatment of upper ureteral calculi

Abstract This study investigated the clinical efficacy of a novel vacuum suction ureteroscopic approach in the treatment of upper ureteral calculi. A total of 160 patients with impacted upper ureteral calculi were included in this study. 50 patients underwent rigid ureteroscopic lithotripsy, 54 patients underwent flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy, and 56 patients underwent vacuum suction ureteroscopic lithotripsy. The operative time, length of hospitalization, stone-free rate, complication rate and total treatment cost were compared among the three groups. Subgroup analysis was performed based on the stone diameter over and below 1.5 cm. Compared with the other two groups, the vacuum suction ureteroscopy group had higher stone-free rate at 3–5 days (90.0% vs. 61.9% vs. 55.6%, P < 0.05) and 1 month (96.4% vs. 77.7% vs. 74.0%, P < 0.05) postoperatively. In subgroup analysis, the stone-free rate of the vacuum suction ureteroscopy group was significantly higher when the stone diameter was > 1.5 cm at 1 month postoperatively ( P < 0.05); however, there were no differences in postoperative complications.( P > 0.05). In conclusion, the novel vacuum suction ureteroscopic lithotripsy has significantly improved the stone-free rate especially in complicated cases; however the complication and cost was not increased.