Determinants of Health-related Quality of Life for Patients After Renal Lithotripsy: Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy (PCNL) Versus Retrograde Intrarenal Surgery(RIRS)

Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PNL) and Retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) are well-established procedures for renal stone fragmentation; however, the morbidity, hospitalization, and lost work hours associated with these procedures can negatively affect the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of the patients [1-3].

The choice of modality is based on the European Association of Urology (EAU) and/or American Urological Association (AUA) guidelines. However, selecting a modality is challenging, considering the advantages and drawbacks of both modalities.

RIRS while minimally invasive, has an inferior stone-free rate compared with PNL; however, PNL requires general anesthesia and longer hospitalization [4]. The need to select the therapeutic modality for urinary lithotripsy based not only on the stone-free rate but also on the subsequent HRQoL of the patient is increasingly recognized [5].

The concept of HRQoL is multidimensional, which includes psychosocial, physical, and emotional factors, as well as patient autonomy, and is applicable to a wide variety of medical conditions [6]. Patients with urolithiasis represent an ideal group for the investigation of HRQoL, considering the disease's high prevalence, non-life-threatening nature, severe symptoms, and high recurrence rate [3]. However, only a few longitudinal studies have investigated HRQoL in patients undergoing lithotripsy for urinary calculi [7]. Several studies have evaluated HRQoL using the Short-Form 36-item survey (SF-36) [3, 7-9].

Hence, this study aims to compare longitudinal HRQoL between PNL and RIRS at four timepoints: before surgery (Bef), on the day of discharge (0 mo), and 1 month (1 mo) and 6 months (6 mo) after surgical intervention, and to further investigate the factors that may significantly affect the HRQoL of these patients