Feasibility, efficacy, and safety of retrograde intrarenal surgery in <1-year age group: A single-center experience.

Purpose: Urolithiasis in infants is uncommon. Percutaneous nephrolithotomy, extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy, and retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) are the management options. RIRS is the least studied of these options in infants. In our series of 23 cases, we aim to assess the feasibility, efficacy, and safety of RIRS in <1-year age group.

Materials and methods: This was a retrospective analysis of a series of 23 infants who underwent RIRS in our hospital from January 2018 to March 2021. Children who were <12 months of age and had the largest stone size of <20 mm were included in the study.

Results: Twenty-three patients (male - 15; female - 8) were included in the study. The mean age was 10 ± 2.31 months (range, 4-12 months). The mean stone size was 11.6 ± 2.96 mm (range, 7.5-19 mm). The mean operative time was 29.44 ± 7.45 min (range, 17-42 min). Six patients (22.2%) had mild hematuria (Clavien I), and seven patients (25.9%) had postoperative fever. Stone size had a significant positive correlation with laser time, operative time, and intraoperative intravasation, but no significant association with stone-free rate. At 2-month follow-up, 4 (three patients) out of 27 renal units had residual stones (stone-free rate [SFR] - 85.1%). No patient had long-term complications like urethral or ureteric stricture or stone recurrence during the given follow-up period.

Conclusion: RIRS is a feasible and minimally invasive treatment for renal stones in infants with acceptable SFRs.