Fluid management and suction in endourology

Fluid management and suction in EndourologyAs stone surgery has evolved over the last 50 years from open surgery to minimally invasive options two goals remain central: to improve stone-free status and to reduce the risk of complications.For many years, technological improvements focused on miniaturisation of equipment and improving devices to fragment stones (lasers and lithoclasts).In the last 5 years a new and equally important technological advance has emerged in stone surgery: fluid management with suction.The BJUI has featured many manuscripts on this topic as it has developed.The data from benchtop and clinical studies compel us to shift our perception of fluid outflow with suction to an integrated component of stone treatment across both retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) and mini-percutaneous nephrolithotomy (mPCNL).Controlling irrigation is now synonymous with controlling outcomes and minimising patient morbidity.