Management behaviors of the urology practitioners to the small lower calyceal stones: the results of a web-based survey

• Published in: Urolithiasis 2016-06, Vol.44 (3), p.277-281
• Main Authors: Ates, Ferhat, Zor, Murat, Yılmaz, Omer, Tuncer, Murat, Ozturk, Metin, Gurbuz, Cenk, Atis, Gokhan, Koca, Orhan, Yildirim, Asif, Eryildirim, Bilal, Kucuk, Eyup Veli, Narter, Fehmi, Senkul, Temucin, Sarica, Kemal
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Attitude of Health Personnel; Health Care Surveys; Humans; Internet; Kidney Calculi - pathology; Kidney Calculi - therapy; Kidney Calices; Medical Biochemistry; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Nephrology; Original Paper; Practice Patterns, Physicians; Retrospective Studies; Urology
• ISSN: 2194-7228; 2194-7236
• DOI: 10.1007/s00240-015-0825-x

Lower pole calyceal stones (LPS) represent lower spontaneous passage rates and, therefore, require several interventional treatment approaches. The aim of this survey study was to investigate the attitudes of the urology practitioners and the factors affecting their decision making in the management of small asymptomatic LPS. A total of 149 urologists participated to the study via email through the internet-based website. Participating urologists were asked to complete a 29-question survey including personal and academic data, level of surgical experience, available equipment for interventional approaches, which treatment do they prefer for small LPS (≥5 mm and  0.05). The most important factors associated with decision making were calyceal dilatation (85.9 %) and patient preferences (81.2 %). The other factors effecting treatment decision were reported to be recurrent disease (70.5 %), the duration of the stone (74.5 %), patient age (95.3 %), current guidelines (87.9 %), stone density (50.3 %), body mass index (BMI) (73.8 %) and other morbid diseases (91.9 %). Our surveys’ greatest value is in demonstrating the preferred treatment options and factors effecting decision-making in the treatment of LPS. The most preferred option in our population was follow-up and medical treatment. The most influencing factors on decision-making were age, patients’ preferences, presence of calyceal dilatation, body mass index, comorbid conditions, available options for stone treatment and the surgeon’s experience on the existing opportunities.