Secondary stone formation 8 weeks after percutaneous nephrolithotomy treatment: A case report

INTRODUCTION: This work reports a patient with recurrent renal calculi subjected to three surgeries in half a year to be in the same position, and the high-throughput sequencing data showed different species in the renal pus and urine samples, which suggested that partial renal infection or stone formation can be judged by the bacteria in urine. PATIENT CONCERNS: The female patient aged 43 years was referred to the authors’ department on April 13, 2020, due to left waist pain and fever for 3 days. DIAGNOSIS: Kidney stones and hydronephrosis were determined by a urinary system computed tomography scan. INTERVENTIONS: On April 20, 2020 and June 15, 2020, the patient was successfully treated with left percutaneous nephrolithotomy twice under general anesthesia. An investigation on the health and eating habits of the patient within 6 months was completed at the last admission. The components of the second renal calculus sample were analyzed with an infrared spectrum analyzer. The third renal stone (renal pus, triplicates) was subjected to microbial metagenome sequencing, and urine samples before and after surgery were subjected to 16S RNA sequencing by SEQHEALTH (Wuhan, China). OUTCOMES: After percutaneous nephrolithotomy, the left kidney stones were basically cleared, stone analysis revealed that the main components were calcium oxalate monohydrate, silica, and a small amount of calcium oxalate dehydrate. Although the urine samples exhibited differences, the renal pus and urine sample shared a single species. CONCLUSION: It is not clear that the prospects of partial renal infection or stone formation can be judged by the bacteria in urine.