title: Miniperc? No, thank you!
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the results of our miniperc series through comparison with results from standard percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PNL) and tubeless PNL series in the treatment of stones <2 cm in diameter.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 134 percutaneous treatments were performed for renal stones <2 cm in diameter. Among the treatments, 40 were minipercs, 67 were standard PNLs, and 27 were tubeless PNLs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Miniperc operative time was longer than that of standard PNL (155.5 vs 106.6 min, respectively) and tubeless PNL (95.9 min). Conversely, there was an advantage for miniperc over standard PNL in terms of a significantly reduced hematocrit drop (4.49% vs 6.31%). No miniperc patients required blood transfusions, whereas two did in the standard PNL group and one in the tubeless PNL group. There was no statistical difference in terms of the amount of analgesics between the standard PNL and miniperc groups, although this difference was statistically significant between the miniperc and tubeless PNL groups (73.8 vs 41.1mg, respectively). Hospitalization for the miniperc group was shorter than that required by the standard PNL group (3.05 vs 5.07 days), but tubeless PNL offered the best result (2.18 days). The stone-free rate was 100% in the tubeless PNL group, 94% in the standard PNL group, and 77.5% in the miniperc group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our retrospective study failed to demonstrate significant advantages of the miniperc technique. As such, we no longer perform miniperc but instead use tubeless PNL when possible.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Istituto Clinico Humanitas, IRCCS, via Manzoni 56, 20089 Rozzano, Milan, Italy. guido.giusti@humanitas.it
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Giusti
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Piccinelli
authors.forename: Gianluigi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Taverna
authors.forename: Alessio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Benetti
authors.forename: Luisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pasini
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Corinti
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Teppa
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zandegiacomo de Zorzi
authors.forename: Pierpaolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Graziotti
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007669:Kidney Calculi / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009403:Nephrostomy, Percutaneous / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies