An innovative surgical procedure for removing kidney stones, which means safer operations and quicker recovery times,  has reached a new milestone at Stepping Hill Hospital.

The hospital’s urology surgical teams have now carried out 65 operations using the ‘Mini-PCNL’  keyhole surgery technique since 2015, when they were the first in the country to do so using the Storz™ system. This has become the most popular mini-PCNL kit in the country.

Larger kidney stones are a problem in the urinary tract which can cause pain, discomfort, urinary tract infections and bleeding, and their removal requires surgery. The newer Mini-PCNL (‘percutaneous nephrolithotomy’) surgical technique uses small, state-of-the-art equipment to create a tiny incision in the patient, at 5mm in diameter less than half the size of that in standard surgery. It involves placing a tiny tube, again half the previous standard size, into their side. This reaches kidney stones which can then be destroyed by a special laser.

As the new technique is less invasive,  it allows patients to recover more quickly, as well as reducing the risk of bleeding.  Most patients used to spend three to four days in hospital to recover from kidney stone surgery, whereas the newer operation usually allows them to go the next day.  The risk of bleeding is reduced from 5% less than 1%, and has not occurred during any of the 65 successful operations. 

Smaller incisions also mean less scarring for patients, who have shown an overwhelmingly positive response to the surgery.

The operations at the hospital are carried out by consultant surgeons Mr Banji Adeyoju , Ms Zara Gall and their colleagues. Banji Adeyoju was the first surgeon in the UK to carry out the technique using the Storz™ equipment, and he and the team will make a  presentation on its success at Stepping Hill Hospital to the  British Association of Urological Surgeons later this year. He said “My surgical colleagues and I are delighted that so many kidney stone patients have been able to benefit from this surgery, and go home sooner and safer to their homes and families. Mini-PCNL surgery is innovative, effective, and now an established part of the surgical services we provide at Stepping Hill Hospital.”