The efficacy and safety of tubeless percutaneous nephrolithotomy: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of tubeless versus standard percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL). Relevant randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trials studies were identified from electronic database (Cochrane CENTRAL, Medline and EMBASE et al.). The retrieval time ended in August 2010. The quality of the included trials was assessed and the data were extracted independently by two reviewers. We divided the participants who received standard PCNL into two subgroups: small tube (4–10 F) group and big tube (14–24 F) group to reduce heterogeneity and bias. Efficacy (hospital stay time, operative time, stone-free rate) and safety (postoperative pain and analgesia requirement, postoperative fever, blood transfusion, urine leakage) were explored by using review manager v5.0. Fourteen randomized controlled trials comprising 776 subjects met the inclusion criteria. Our meta-analysis showed that there were statistically significant differences in hospital stay, postoperative analgesic requirement and urine leakage between tubeless and standard PCNL. In operative time, significant difference was found between tubeless and big tube group. No statistically significant differences were found in stone-free rate, postoperative fever, and blood transfusion between tubeless and standard PCNL. In conclusion, Tubeless PCNL was an effective and safe procedure for treatment of renal stones in selected patients, with shorter hospital stay, less analgesic requirement, lower urine leakage and without increased complications. Patients can receive great benefit from tubeless PCNL and it will become more palatable to patients as well as more cost-effective than standard PCNL in the future.