Can diverticulum stones be treated minimally invasively?

  The diverticulum is a cystic lesion located in the renal parenchyma, the wall of which is covered with migrating epithelium similar to that of the renal pelvis and is connected to the pelvis and renal calyces by fine tubes. Due to the special anatomical reasons, the treatment of diverticula is more difficult, and the opening of diverticula is mostly narrow and hidden, ESWL and retrograde ureteroscopic lithotripsy are difficult to be effective, in the past, most of the open surgery is used to deal with, now with the minimally invasive intracavitary Nowadays, with the continuous progress and improvement of minimally invasive intracavitary technology, minimally invasive percutaneous lithotripsy can be used to obtain good treatment.  Simple renal diverticula have no obvious symptoms, but when the diverticula are large or when they are complicated by stones, symptoms such as back pain, hematuria, fever, urinary frequency, urinary urgency and painful urination can occur. Patients with diverticula stones with mild symptoms or no obvious urinary tract infection can be treated symptomatically and reviewed regularly; however, if there is obvious back pain, recurrent urinary tract infection, hematuria, or large diverticula stones and lactated calcium, surgical treatment is needed. In the past, diverticular stones were mostly treated with open surgery, but with the improvement of equipment and technology, minimally invasive surgical treatment is now used, mainly including percutaneous nephrolithotomy, ureteroscopic lithotripsy and laparoscopic surgery.  Although ESWL treatment for renal calyx diverticulum stone is less invasive and has fewer complications, it only shatters part of the stone and cannot guarantee the discharge of stone fragments. Due to the narrow discharge channel of renal calyx diverticulum, the stone removal rate after ESWL treatment is low. Ureteral chondroscopy combined with holmium laser and electrocautery for the treatment of calyx diverticulum stones is mainly used for the treatment of upper and middle calyx diverticulum stones. The presence of the pelvic and inferior calyx angle makes it difficult for the ureteral chondroscope to reach part of the calyx diverticulum, and sometimes it is also difficult to insert the neck of part of the narrow calyx diverticulum.  Percutaneous nephrolithotomy is currently the most widely used and effective minimally invasive treatment for combined calyx diverticulum stones. Under ultrasound guidance, direct puncture is performed to enter the calyx diverticulum, holmium laser lithotripsy is used, and subsequently the calyx diverticulum can be treated simultaneously to dilate the diverticular channel and leave a nephrostomy tube in place to open the diverticular channel and prevent stenosis or stone recurrence. With the accumulation of experience, we have successfully managed diverticular stones in different parts of the renal calyces using percutaneous nephrolithotomy with excellent clinical results.