Lumbar hernia following percutaneous nephrolitotomy

Percutaneous renal surgery (PRS) is the established procedure to treat several renal conditions, such as large renal stones, ureteropelvic obstruction, and upper tract transitional cell carcinoma. Complications, including urinary tract infections, bleeding necessitating transfusion, extravasation, and transient ureteral obstruction, are uncommon. Other well described complications are pneumothorax or hydrothorax, pneumonia/atelectasis, urinoma formation, bowel injury, or escape of stone fragments into the retroperitoneum. At that time, lumbotomy was the most common approach to the kidney, and many patients developed either muscle atrophy or fascial defects. Because of the particular anatomy of retroperitoneum, this condition might be difficult to repair. Percutaneous access is carried out using dilating systems generally considered to be less traumatic. This technique is less aggressive to the abdominal wall. To our knowledge, this is the first report of this complication after PRS.