A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON OUTCOMES OF RIRS FOR RENAL CALCULI WITHOUT PREOPERATIVE DJ STENTING VERSUS WITH PREOPERATIVE DJ STENTING- OUR INSTITUTIONAL EXPERIENCE

Introduction: Improvement of the instruments as well as endoscopic technology has made RIRS as an increasingly popular treatment option for patients with renal stones < 2 cm. In many centres, prior DJ stenting is carried out before RIRS to passively dilate the ureter, which facilitates subsequent RIRS procedure. In our series, RIRS was attempted without preoperative stenting, without compromising the success of the procedure. Materials And Methods: It is a prospective study done in Deptt. of Urology, in a tertiary care hospital in Chennai between February 2022 and March 2023. A total of 103 patients with unilateral renal stones of size <2.5 cms who underwent RIRS were included in this study. The patients were divided into two groups based on whether or not a ureteral stent was inserted preoperatively. Baseline characteristics of patients, stone burden, operation time, stone-free rates, and complications were compared between both the groups. Out of 103 patients, we were able to perform RIRS without preoperative s Results: tenting in 69 cases (66.99%) and rest 34 patients underwent RIRS after 2-3 weeks of stenting. The overall stone-free rate (SFR) was 79.71% for the non-stented group and 82.35% for the pre-stented group. There were no differences in operative times, perioperative complications and additional treatment rates between the two groups. RIRS without preoperative stenting had similar effects in terms of operati Conclusions: ve outcome and complications, when compared with RIRS with preoperative stenting. Out of 103 patients, RIRS was possible in majority of the cases without preoperative stenting. RIRS without prior DJ stenting is a feasible option in managing renal stones and whenever possible it should be performed without prior stenting to avoid undergoing the procedure twice.