Medical Diagnosis of Upper Urinary Calculi Based on Image Filtering in Ureteroscopic Lithotripsy

Abstract

Objective: Based on improved image processing techniques, we investigate the therapeutic effect and safety of a flexible ureteroscope applied in treatment of upper urinary calculi with and without preoperative ureteral stent, and analyzed their outcome based on CT and ultrasound medical imaging technology, as well as other clinical data. Methods: These identified patients were randomly divided into two groups, 89 patients suffering from upper urinary calculi in Group A were treated with flexible ureteroscopy lithotripsy and Holmium laser, without preoperative ureteral stent. On the other hand, another 114 patients in Group B received preoperative ureteral stent. In terms of measurement indicators, the total operation time, hospitalization time, hospital costs, success rate of operation, clearance rate of stone, occurrence rate of complications, and the probability of a second operation were recorded, respectively. In order to verify the effect of the operation, we performed Computed Tomography (CT), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Ultrasound Examination on the patient before and after the operation, and processed the image by downhill filtering algorithm and adaptive median filtering to ensure the validity and accuracy of the experiment. Results: By analyzing other clinical data such as medical images, it is known when making comparisons between two groups, there were no significant difference in terms of stone size, stone site, and success rate of operation (97.8%, 87/89 for group A; 100%, 114/144 for group B). In further, the operation time of group A was longer than that of group B (65.46 ± 10.17 min vs. 59.58 ± 9.25 min, P < 0 05), and the hospitalization time in group A was much shorter (6.53 ± 0.89 d vs. 10.16 ± 1.50 d, P < 0.01). The clearance rate of stone at 3-day post-surgery in group A was much lower than that of group B (36%, 32/89 vs. 51.7%, 59/114, P < 0.05). In addition, the clearance rate of stone at 1-month post-surgery (84.3%, 75/89 in group A vs. 85.1%, 97/114 in group B), and the occurrence rate of complications (21.3%, 19/89 in group A vs. 20.1%, 23/114 in group B) showed no significantly difference (P > 0.05). Besides, the probabilities of a second operation in group A and B were 14.6% (19/89) and 20.1% (23/114), respectively. And no significantly difference could be drawn according to statistical analysis. Conclusion: The application of flexible ureteroscope applied in treatment of upper urinary calculi without preoperative ureteral stent was economical, safe and effective.