COMPARISON OF STONE-FREE RATES FOLLOWING EXTRACORPOREAL SHOCK WAVE LITHOTRIPSY (ESWL) AND RETROGRADE INTRARENAL SURGERY (RIRS) FOR RENAL PELVIC STONES MEASURING 1–2 CM
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52764/jms.26.34.1.5Keywords:
stone-free rate, renal pelvic stones, urolithiasis, ESWL, RIRS.Abstract
Objective: This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy and retrograde Intrarenal Surgery on obtaining stone-free status for renal pelvic stones measuring 1-2 cm in diameter.
Material & Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted at the Department of Urology, Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar, where a total of 60 patients with renal pelvic stones measuring 1–2 cm were randomly assigned to two equal groups: ESWL (n = 30) and RIRS (n = 30). Stone clearance was assessed on the 7th postoperative day using ultrasound and X-ray KUB.
Results: The mean age of participants in Group A (ESWL) increased to 41 years (SD = 10.67), while the mean in Group B (RIRS) increased to 42 years (SD = 9.09). For Group A (ESWL), the sample included 20 males and 10 females, representing 67% and 33%, respectively. For Group B (RIRS), 21 participants were males, and 9 were females, accounting for 70% and 30%, respectively. The Chi-square test results indicate no statistically significant difference between the two groups regarding gender ratio (p = 0.7813). The data indicated that the patients with renal pelvic stones of 1–2 cm were more likely to be stone-free after retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) than after extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL). In the RIRS group, 73% were stone-free, while only 33% were stone-free in the ESWL group (p = 0.0019).
Conclusion: The study finds that RIRS is more effective than ESWL for managing 1-2cm renal pelvic stones. RIRS achieves higher stone-free rates, especially when anatomical difficulties and challenges associated with ESWL are common, and it can precisely locate stones and utilize advanced laser treatment features.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Ishtiaq ur Rehman, Hazrat Ullah, Murad Ali, Muhammad Sabir, Mohammad Anees Iqbal, Syed Abdul Basit Shah

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All articles published in the Journal of Medical Sciences (JMS) are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0). Under the CC BY 4.0 license, author(s) retain the ownership of the copyright publishing rights without restrictions for their content, and allow others to copy, use, print, share, modify, and distribute the content of the article even for commercial purposes as long as the original authors and the journal are properly cited. No permission is required from the author/s or the publishers for this purpose. Appropriate attribution can be provided by simply citing the original article. The corresponding author has the right to grant on behalf of all authors, a worldwide license to JMS and its licensees in all forms, formats, and media (whether known now or created in the future), The corresponding author must certify and warrant the authorship and proprietorship and should declare that he/she has not granted or assigned any of the article’s rights to any other person or body.
The corresponding author must compensate the journal for any costs, expenses, or damages that the JMS may incur as a result of any breach of these warranties including any intentional or unintentional errors, omissions, copyright issues, or plagiarism. The editorial office must be notified upon submission if an article contains materials like text, pictures, tables, or graphs from other copyrighted sources. The JMS reserves the right to remove any images, figures, tables, or other content, from any article, whether before or after publication, if concerns are raised about copyright, license, or permissions and the authors are unable to provide documentation confirming that appropriate permissions were obtained for publication of the content in question.

