Mr. Zhang is a middle-aged cab driver. Due to his work, he usually does not have a regular diet, especially drinking less water. In the last six months, he often experienced soreness in the right side of his lower back and sometimes a feeling of lumbar distension. After going to the hospital for examination, he realized that a large stone had grown in his kidney and filled the whole kidney, accompanied by hydronephrosis and urinary tract infection. Urinary tract stones are one of the common diseases of the urinary system, and the exact cause of the disease is not clear. Depending on the size, location, shape and number of stones, different treatments are needed. Some specific stones, such as those that fill the entire kidney (cast stones) and those located in certain small calyces of the kidney, have been a major problem for urologists in the past. In some cases, it is even necessary to remove the kidney with stones first, and then transplant the kidney back into the patient after dissecting and removing the stones, which is a very risky operation and not very effective. In recent years, with the development of percutaneous nephrolithoscopy technology, this problem has been solved. Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) is a new technique that has emerged in recent years for the treatment of urinary tract stones. It uses a special endoscope and intraluminal lithotripsy and stone extraction equipment to complete the treatment of stones through a channel that reaches the kidney through the skin. The history of this technique is that as early as the 10th century, there was a legend of kidney stone extraction through a hole in the skin in Arabia, and after the introduction of percutaneous nephrolithoscopy in the mid-1970s, this technique has gradually taken shape and has been popularized, especially in the past 5 years, this technique has developed by leaps and bounds. In the early 1980s, China introduced this technique and equipment from abroad, and first succeeded in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai, and then pushed it to the whole country. Because the equipment required for percutaneous nephrological surgery is expensive and the technical requirements are relatively high, only some large and medium-sized hospitals in China are currently carrying out this technology. Percutaneous nephrolithoscopy is performed under anesthesia. The renal pelvis is punctured under X-ray or ultrasound guidance, and then the puncture channel is expanded to the required size to create the channel needed for the surgery. Percutaneous nephrolithoscopy is used to treat stones in the renal pelvis, calyces and upper ureter. Stones in the renal pelvis and the punctured calyces are generally easier to remove or fragment. Stones in the other calyces, especially when the calyces are small, are not easily removed or broken. Some patients may require multiple surgeries to remove the stone. Stones in the upper ureter need to be combined with ureteroscopy, i.e., parsimonious ureteroscopic lithotripsy. Before the percutaneous nephrolithotomy, the patient needs to undergo some cooperation training so that he or she can better cooperate with the surgeon during the procedure and complete the surgery successfully. An endoureteral stent tube and a nephrostomy tube are usually left in place during the procedure and are removed after the procedure depending on the patient’s recovery. Antibiotics are usually required for a certain period of time after surgery. The overall stone removal rate is higher with extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy. The Department of Urology of the Ninth People’s Hospital of Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine is one of the early hospitals to carry out this operation. Since the department carried out percutaneous nephrolithoscopy, it has accumulated rich clinical experience in percutaneous nephrolithotomy and stone extraction. In recent years, the department has made great efforts to update its equipment and instruments. At present, the department has advanced instruments and equipment such as pneumatic ballistic lithotripter, holmium laser generator and portable ultrasound machine, which make the technical level and hardware level of the department in stone treatment always develop continuously. And supplemented by the accumulation of experience in extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy treatment of nearly 10,000 cases in our department so far, and the participation of ureteroscopy and other technologies, we provide the greatest guarantee for the recovery of urinary tract stone patients.