Quality of Life in Kidney Stone Patients Undergoing Surgery

This is a prospective randomized study, comparing quality of life in renal stone patients undergoing surgical treatment with ureteroscopy (URS) versus percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PNL).

In United States, the prevalence of renal stone is 8.8% with slight predomination in male than female. They can be symptomatic marked by symptoms of flank pain, hematuria or urinary tract infection, or completely asymptomatic and incidentally discovered. Three modalities are accepted as treatment options for renal stone, including shockwave lithotripsy (SWL), percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PNL) and ureteroscopy (URS). While some standard guidelines were proposed for appropriate treatment selection with regard to stone size, no recommendations or guidelines exist for the surgical management of 1-2 cm renal stones. Both PNL and URS are equally accepted as treatment options for stones at this size. The selection of either procedure currently is left to the treating surgeon can be influenced by anatomical or stone factors as well as patient preference. For URS, frequent requirement for postoperative ureteral stents may result in significant morbidity and a detriment to quality of life owing to irritating bladder symptoms caused by the stent itself. PNL rarely requires postoperative ureteral stent but it may bring longer operative time and hospitalization. PNL therefore may be a treatment option that preserves quality of life compared to URS for patients presenting with the 1-2 cm sized kidney or ureteral stone.

One reasonable way to evaluate efficacy of treatment options is to assess patient's quality of life resultant from the selected modality. Quality of life for renal stone formers is an important but under-studied facet of nephrolithiasis management that should be incorporated into clinical decision making.

The short form-36 health survey questionnaire (SF-36) is a patient-reported survey of health status. It has been validated and is commonly used to determine the efficacy of a given health treatment in many settings, including urologic intervention. The Ureteral Stent Symptom Questionnaire (USSQ) is a validated and widely accepted instrument to evaluate the impact of ureteral stents on quality of life. The investigators plan to use these two questionnaires as a standard outcome measurement to compare impact on quality of life in patients randomized to undergo two different modalities (PNL versus URS) of stone treatment.