Abstract: Objective · To investigate the application effect of balloon dilatation and percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) combined with pneumatic and ultrasound lithotripsy on the clinical treatment of unilateral kidney stones. Methods · Ninety-four patients with unilateral kidney stones who accepted PCNL in the Department of Urology, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from June 2017 to July 2019, were retrospectively analyzed and divided into group A and group B. Among them, 68 patients (group A) were subjected to balloon dilatation combined with pneumatic and ultrasound lithotripsy, while 26 patients (group B) underwent fascia dilatation combined with holmium laser lithotripsy. The clinical effects of two kinds of lithotripsy on the treatment of unilateral kidney stones were compared. Results · The operation time was shorter in group A than that in group B [(107.82±10.87) min vs (115.41±10.68) min, P=0.003]. The increase rate of postoperative white blood cell (WBC) was lower in group A than that in group B (4.41% vs 23.08%, P=0.018). The fever (≥ 38.5 ℃) rate was lower in group A than that in group B (4.41% vs 23.08%, P=0.018). There were no significant differences in hemoglobin reduction, WBC count, hospital stay, stone-free rate, blood transfusion rate and perforation rate of collection system between the two groups (all P>0.05). Conclusion · Balloon dilatation combined with pneumatic and ultrasound lithotripsy in treatment of unilateral renal stones by PCNL can shorten the operation time, and reduce the increase rate of postoperative WBC and fever rate, which is worthy of being promoted in the clinical treatment of patients with unilateral kidney stones.

Key words: balloon dilatation, percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL), pneumatic and ultrasound lithotripsy, kidney stones, fascia dilatation, holmium laser lithotripsy