Abstract
<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> The aim of this study was to compare the clinical safety and efficiency between one-stage flexible ureteroscopy (FURS) during single-tract percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) and multi-tract PCNL in the treatment of parallel calyceal stones. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> One hundred and twenty-five patients who had calyceal stones parallel to puncture channel from March 2017 to January 2021 were enrolled and assigned into two groups. Seventy cases received the treatment of FURS combined with single-tract PCNL under the oblique supine position (the Combined group), and 55 cases had multi-tract PCNL procedure under the prone position (the Multi-tract group). Demographic characteristics, clinical information, and surgical outcomes were analyzed. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Demographic variables and stone characteristics did not show statistical difference between the two groups. Compared with the Multi-tract group, there were longer operation time (<i>p</i> = 0.021), shorter postoperative hospitalization days (<i>p</i> = 0.003), smaller postoperative hemoglobin drop (<i>p</i> = 0.002), less incidence of moderate and severe postoperative pain (<i>p</i> = 0.001), and postoperative perirenal hematoma (<i>p</i> = 0.012) in the Combined group. No significant difference was found in the stone-free rate (SFR) and postoperative fever between the two groups (<i>p</i> = 0.880 and <i>p</i> = 0.324). More patients needed postoperative intervening embolization in the Multi-tract group (<i>p</i> = 0.048). <b><i>Discussion/Conclusions:</i></b> For most patients with parallel calyceal stones, one-stage FURS combined with single-tract PCNL procedure was a safer procedure for the reduction of complications and could achieve a comparative SFR compared to the multi-tract PCNL.