Emergency Percutaneous Nephrostomy: Technical Success Based on Level of Operator Experience

Abstract

The outcomes of emergency percutaneous nephrostomy procedures performed by operators with different levels of experience were analyzed. A prospective study of 160 patients undergoing 169 emergency percutaneous nephrostomies was conducted. Three categories of operator experience were compared based on the number of percutaneous nephrostomies performed each year (level 1 = more than 20, level 2 = 10-20, or level 3 = less than 10). The level 1 operators (mean fluoroscopy time, 2 minutes; mean procedure time, 25 minutes) achieved success in 141 of 142 cases (99%) and failed in one case (1%), which was repeated successfully the next day. The level 2 operators (mean fluoroscopy time, 6 minutes; mean procedure time, 35 minutes) achieved initial success in all of 15 cases (100%), but three cases (20%) were repeated the next day because of catheter migration or malposition. Level 3 operators (mean fluoroscopy time, 10 minutes; mean procedure time, 42 minutes) were successful in 10 of 12 cases (83%), but in four cases (33%) the procedure had to be repeated. The experience of the operators played little role in the initial success rate of the procedure after they had performed 10 or more per year. However, the level of experience did influence the number of procedures that needed to be repeated, the prevalence of minor complications, and the mean fluoroscopy and procedure time.