Assessment of the Effects of Access Count in Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy on Renal Functions by Technetium-99M-Dimercaptosuccinic Acid Scintigraphy

In this study 37 patients who had undergone percutaneous nephrolithotomy were included. Preoperative DMSA scans were performed a day before the surgery, whereas postoperative scans were randomized by evaluating them before (n=25) and after (n=12) the 6th postoperative month. A DMSA scan was read by using a technique that divides both kidneys into three paired poles. In this way functional changes were investigated in the renal units. Twenty six of 37 cases underwent percutaneous nephrolithotomy with a single access site and 11 with multiple access sites. When each of the poles of a kidney was admitted as a surgical unit separately, there were 51 units.