Effect of body mass index on operative time, hospital stay, stone clearance, postoperative complications, and postoperative analgesic requirement in patients undergoing percutaneous nephrolithotomy

Objective: To compare the effect of body mass (BMI) index on operative time, hospital stay, stone clearance, postoperative complications, and postoperative analgesic requirement in patients undergoing percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) by comparing three BMI groups.

Material and methods: This is a retrospective analysis of 129 patients who underwent PCNL from January 2010 to August 2013. All the patients underwent PCNL by a standard technique. The patients were divided into three groups: patients having a BMI ≤24 kg/m2 were included in the normal group, those having a BMI of 24.1–30.0 kg/m2 were included in the overweight group, and those having a BMI >30 kg/m2 were included in the obese group. Three groups were compared for operative time, hospital stay, stone clearance, postoperative complications, and postoperative analgesic requirement.

Results: A total of 129 patients including 44 females and 85 males were included with a mean age of 45.00±1.44 years. The mean age in the normal group was 43.29±1.69 years, 47.08±1.29 years in the overweight group, and 43.61±1.25 years in the obese group. The mean stone size in the normal group was 25.46±8.92 mm, 28.01±8.40 mm in the overweight group, and 26.84±7.41 mm in the obese group. Our results showed no statistically significant difference with respect to mean operative time, mean hospital stay, and stone clearance in the normal, obese, and overweight patients undergoing PCNL. Postoperative complications and analgesia requirement were also similar in all the three groups.

Conclusion: There was no effect of BMI on operative time, hospital stay, stone clearance, postoperative complications, and postoperative analgesic requirement in patients undergoing PCNL. PCNL is a safe and effective procedure for the removal of renal stones in obese patients.