title: Transcutaneous ultrasound guided nephrolithotomy: the first report from Iran.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the safety and efficacy of transcutaneous ultrasound guided nephrolithotomy.
  
  
  METHODS
  From December 1999 to December 2000, 12 patients with renal stone were selected for PCNL. Six patients had failed ESWL and the remainder had multiple and large stones in pelvis and lower calyx. Ultrasonography was used in 11 patients during the entrance to the system and dilatation of the tract. Entrance to the system was impossible in one case for which open surgery with dorsal lumbotomy was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The stone was removed by just one session of PCNL in 8 and the residual stone was less than 1 cm in the 3 other cases. Repeated PCNL from the same tract was performed in one case and ESWL was carried out in the other 2 cases. After three months, all of the 11 patients were stone free.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It seems that ultrasonography could replace fluoroscopy in patients with dilated collective urinary system and a single large stone in calyx or pelvis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Shaheed Labbafinejad Medical Center, Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Etemadian
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Amjadi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Simforoosh