The aim of this article was to evaluate the current perception of urologists as to what size is considered as a clinically insignificant residual fragment (CIRF).
A survey was globally distributed to the members of the Endourological Society via SurveyMonkey.
A total of 385 participants responded to the survey on CIRF. Most participants considered 2 mm (29%) as CIRF threshold, followed by 3 mm (24%), 4 mm (22%), 0 mm (14%), 5 mm (8%) and 1 mm (3%). North American urologists considered CIRF to be smaller than urologists from Asia, Eurasia and South America, (p-values ≤0.001, 0.037 and 0.015 respectively). European urologists identified smaller CIRF in comparison to Asian urologists (p-value = 0.001). Urologists mainly using a pneumatic lithotripter accepted larger fragments as CIRF, compared to urologists mainly using ultrasonic devices or a combination of ultrasonic and pneumatic devices (p-value = 0.026 and 0.005 respectively). Similarly, urologists mainly performing X-Ray and ultrasound as post-operative imaging accepted larger fragments as CIRF in comparison to urologists mainly performing non-contrast computed tomography (p-value = 0.001).
What is considered as CIRF varies between urologist from different continents and seems to be associated with the lithotripter used and the post-operative imaging modality of preference to assess treatment success.
Central European journal of urology. 2022 Aug 18 [Epub]
Senol Tonyali, Esteban Emiliani, Tarik Emre Şener, Amelia Pietropaolo, Mehmet Ӧzsoy, Omar Aboumarzouk, Bhaskar Somani, Panagiotis Kallidonis, Vincent M J De Coninck, Michele Talso, Etienne Xavier Keller, Nicola Macchione, Thomas Tailly
Department of Urology, Istanbul University Istanbul School of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey., Department of Urology, Fundacio Puigvert, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain., Department of Urology, Marmara University School of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey., Department of Urology, University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust, Southampton, United Kingdom., Department of Urology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria., Department of Urology, Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, United Kingdom., Department of Urology, University of Patras School of Medicine, Patras, Greece., Department of Urology, AZ KLINA, Brasschaat, Belgium., Department of Urology, ASST Fatebenefratelli-Sacco, Luigi Sacco University Hospital, Milan, Italy., Department of Urology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland., Department of Urology, ASST Santi Paolo E Carlo, Università Degli Studi Di Milano, Milan, Italy., Department of Urology, University Hospital of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium.