Causes and Risk Factors for Hospital Readmission in Patients with Ureteral Stones Treated With Transurethral Lithotripsy

Urinary tract stones are recognized as the third most prevalent disease in urology. Transurethral lithotripsy (TUL) is the most prevalent surgical modality for ureteral stones. Some patients experience hospital readmission and possibly another surgical intervention after TUL. The present study aimed to assess the causes and risk factors of readmission in patients with ureteral stones treated with TUL. This cross-sectional study was conducted on all the patients who underwent TUL in Imam Reza Hospital in Mashhad, northeast of Iran, from March 2018 to September 2019. The case group consisted of 67 patients who were hospitalized due to primary urinary stone-related complications. The patients who were admitted for the removal of double J (DJ) catheter (n=118) were regarded as the control group. The most common causes of hospital readmission were re-TUL for the removal of the remnant urinary stones when patients came back for DJ catheter removal (29.9%). The second and third causes of readmission were fever after DJ catheter removal (20.9%) and fever after TUL (14.9%). The main risk factors for hospital readmission were stone size, age, and male gender. As evidenced by the results of the present study, stone size, age, and male gender were the major risk factors for hospital readmission after TUL. The most common causes of readmission were re-TUL at the time of DJ catheter removal, fever after DJ catheter removal, and fever after TUL.