Outpatient percutaneous nephrostomy.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the feasibility of performing percutaneous nephrostomy (PCN) on an outpatient basis in a select group of patients.


METHODS
In 6 years, 60 PCN procedures were performed in a subgroup of 48 patients (22 men, 26 women) carefully selected from a larger group of 881 nephrostomy procedures in 589 patients. Exclusion criteria included hypertension; untreated urinary tract infection, coagulopathy, and staghorn calculi. Indications were calculus (n = 17), benign stricture (n = 10), and malignant ureteric obstruction (n = 21).


RESULTS
There was 100% technical success. Six of 48 patients (12%) were admitted within a week of PCN; there were no cost savings in these patients. Three of these patients (6%) were admitted as a direct consequence of PCN; one had sepsis, one had bleeding, and one was unable to manage the PCN tube. Outpatient treatment saved the cost of hospitalization in 42 patients (88%).


CONCLUSIONS
Outpatient PCN is feasible and safe in carefully selected patients and yields major cost savings because it precludes hospital admission.
Gray
R R
RR
Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Foothills Hospital, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
So
C B
CB
McLoughlin
R F
RF
Pugash
R A
RA
Saliken
J C
JC
Macklin
N I
NI
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009403:Nephrostomy, Percutaneous / Q000009:adverse effects