A vacuum cleaner for the pelvicalyceal system during percutaneous nephrolithotomy.

Removing small stones, fragments and debris, clots, or clusters of small stones can be bothersome and time consuming. We perform a technique to sweep out fragments from the kidney during percutaneous nephrolithotomy using suction. The nephroscope is used as a vacuum cleaner by adapting the suction tube to the nephroscope operating channel. The fragments are quickly aspirated through the nephroscope working channel under direct vision. This technique gives the best opportunities to render a patient stone-free from even the fine sand debris.