The effect of application of a Soton ureteroscope on infection after flexible ureteroscopy lithotripsy

Introduction
Postoperative infection is still one of the most common complications following flexible ureteroscopy lithotripsy (FURL). However, whether a combination of negative pressure ureteroscopy (and Soton ureteroscopy) is superior to FURL in lithotripsy with regard to intraoperative pressure and possibly the incidence of postoperative infection remains to be validated.

Aim
To explore the effect of a Soton ureteroscope on infection following flexible ureteroscope lithotripsy.

Material and methods
Sixty patients with kidney stones were randomly divided equally into study and control groups. The operation duration, stone-free rate, postoperative blood routine, procalcitonin, C-reactive protein, and other data between the two groups were then analysed and compared.

Results
There were no statistically significant differences between the study group and the control group regarding the average operation time and the average number of hospitalization days. The mean stone-free rate 1 week after surgery and mean VAS pain score 1 day after surgery for the study group and the control group were 91.3% and 0.27 vs. 76.9% and 0.61, respectively. Notably, the average body temperature after the first day of the operation was 36.4C in the study group and 36.7C in the control group. More importantly, concerning postoperative infection index, white blood cells (WBCs), percentage of neutrophils, C-reactive protein, and procalcitonin were all lower in the study group than in the control group.

Conclusions
Compared with flexible ureteroscopy alone, combined use of Soton ureteroscopy is associated with fewer substantially infection following lithotripsy.