BACKGROUND:

The incidence and prevalence of urinary lithiasis has increased worldwide. Some studies report a prevalence of 13% of all hospitalizations for kidney disease. Percutaneous nephrolithotomy is a standard procedure for the extraction of kidney stones larger than 2 cm. The Clavien-Dindo classification ranks the complications arising from that procedure.

OBJECTIVE:

To determine the prevalence of and risk factors for complications in percutaneous nephrolithotomy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Retrospective and descriptive study carried out by the medical records of patients that underwent percutaneous nephrolithotomy within the time frame of 2013 to 2016 were reviewed. Comorbidities, body mass index, stone volume, and perioperative complications were evaluated and the SPSS® program was used for the statistical analysis.

RESULTS:

Forty-seven percutaneous nephrolithotomies were performed during the study period. The comorbidities identified were high blood pressure in 12 (25%) patients and diabetes in 16 (34%). The mean body mass index was 28.7 kg/m2 and the mean stone volume was 446 mm3. The most frequent complications (7 [14%]), according to the Clavien-Dindo classification, were grade II (71%) and grade IIIa (28%). Comorbidities, body mass index, and stone volume were not statistically significant for the development of complications (p = 0.197, p = 0.551, p = 0.185, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS:

Comorbidities, such as obesity, have been shown in the international medical literature to be risk factors for the development of major complications in percutaneous nephrolithotomy. However, in our population, comorbidities, body mass index, and stone volume were not related to the development of complications.