Clinical studies have shown that the composition, diameter range, shape and location of stones in patients with complex kidney stones have certain particularity. In addition, the occurrence of this disease is often accompanied by adverse symptoms such as urinary tract infection. Therefore, the optimal surgical intervention scheme for these patients remains controversial [9]. Complex kidney stones are usually large stones with long local retention time. Some patients may develop urinary tract obstruction, leading to pain, hydronephrosis and other related complications. It may even further develop into uremia, which is life-threatening in severe cases [10]. In the past, open nephrotomy was often used in clinical practice. It requires blocking the renal pedicle vessels and cutting the renal parenchyma. For patients, it will lead to huge intraoperative trauma and may cause a certain degree of renal injury [11]. Therefore, seeking a safe and effective surgical treatment to achieve the clinical cure of complex kidney stones has been a hot issue in urology.
The mPCNL operation with holmium laser intervention mainly involves the establishment of surgical channels between the patient's skin and renal collecting system, and the endoscopic placement of calyceum, renal pelvis and ureter. At the same time, the holmium laser is used to release high energy on calculi, causing thermochemical reaction and local water vaporization effect to break the calculi into powder [12]. It is believed that mPCNL combined with holmium laser lithotripsy can simultaneously treat the stenosis of the ureteropelopeloureter junction, ureteral polyps and other soft tissue lesions, avoiding the pain of the second operation [13]. Compared with open nephrolithotomy, mPCNL with holmium laser intervention can significantly shorten the operative time and hospital stay, reduce intraoperative blood loss, and have a higher stone clearance rate. This is mainly because holmium laser interventional treatment of mPCNL has small trauma and rapid postoperative recovery. Also, it should be related to the fact that the stones were crushed thoroughly, the residual was less, and the renal colic was relieved significantly during the stone removal process. For the complexity of kidney stones, there still exists certain risk of complications of mPCNL holmium laser mPCNL under the intervention a significantly lower incidence of postoperative complications of total cut open renal nephrolithotomy. As a high-energy pulsed solid-state laser, holmium laser has the following characteristics: oscillating impact, low retreat rate, little thermal damage to surrounding tissues, and less congestion and edema of ureteral mucosa. Also, it has a certain function of intraoperative hemostasis, which helps reduce intraoperative and postoperative blood loss and postoperative complications [14]. Thus, the selection of reasonable puncture points and the establishment of ideal working channels are the key links of mPCNL holmium laser lithotripsy for stone removal and residue reduction. For small caliceal calculi that cannot be touched by percutaneous nephroscopy, the caliceal opening can be properly split with holmium laser to allow the dilated sheath to enter the caliceal for lithotripsy, thus reducing the surgical passage and postoperative complications.
It should be noted that there is no index for early prediction of kidney stones in clinical practice, and the diagnosis is usually made after the occurrence of clinical symptoms. Therefore, it is of positive significance to find effective biomarkers for early diagnosis, treatment and prognosis assessment of kidney stones. LncRNA is a class of RNA molecules with a length of more than 200 nucleotides widely existing in blood, which can regulate protein expression in the body and play an important role in regulating various physiological and pathological processes such as cell growth, apoptosis, ontogeny, signal transduction, oxidative stress and inflammatory response [15]. Some research has shown that LncRNA HOTAIR is highly expressed in acute kidney injury caused by sepsis, which can regulate miR-34A level and regulate renal tissue apoptosis, and play a certain regulatory role in renal injury caused by sepsis. Abnormal expression of LncRNA is closely related to renal injury diseases [16]. Timely detection of serum LncRNA TapSAKI, MCP-1 and IL-6 levels has certain reference value for diagnosis, treatment and prognosis assessment of kidney stones. MCP-1 is an inflammatory protein that plays an important role in the formation of calculi. It can cause the inflammatory response of renal tubular epithelial cells and produce inflammatory factors that play a promoting role. MCP-1 is involved in and affects the process of renal fibrosis [17]. Il-6 is a key factor in initiating inflammatory response, which can cause damage to renal tubular cells and capillaries, resulting in lack of nutrition and oxygen in renal tubular epithelial cells, and further promoting degeneration and necrosis of renal tubular epithelial cells [18]. It can be found positive correlation between serum LncRNA TapSAKI and THE levels of MCP-1 and IL-6 in patients with complicated kidney stones, suggesting that LncRNA TapSAKI may interact with MCP-1 and IL-6 to play a certain role in the occurrence and development of kidney stones. These results suggest that dynamic monitoring of LncRNA TapSAKI, MCP-1 and IL-6 levels is helpful for early diagnosis and prediction of renal stone disease progression.