Abstract
The incidence of stone disease in the paediatric population varies throughout the world. Paediatric urolithiasis may be associated with underlying metabolic/enzymatic or anatomical abnormalities, which should be corrected simultaneously with the stone management. Children have soft and mobile kidneys, flexible ureter, and smaller urinary tract with narrow working space requiring smaller endoscopic instruments. Introduction of percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) revolutionized the treatment of large upper tract stones. Innovations, miniaturization of instruments, refinements in endourological techniques made PCNL in children safer and efficient and paved the way for this procedure to be accepted as a standard for large upper tract stones. We searched the Medline® and Pubmed® databases using the search terms 'paediatric, percutaneous nephrolithotomy, stones, and complications' for articles published between the years 1990 and 2012. More than 40 articles related to this topic were retrieved and reviewed and are presented in this review.
The Sri Lanka Journal of Surgery 2013; 31(3):12-18
© 2014 P Singh Kumar, published by The College of Surgeons of Sri Lanka
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