Recent surgical treatments for urinary stone disease in a Korean population: National population‐based study

OBJECTIVES: To provide surgical treatment trends for urinary stone disease in Korea. METHODS: We analyzed medical service claim data of surgical treatments to urinary stone disease submitted by medical service providers from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service from 2009 to 2016. RESULTS: There was a significantly increasing trend among outpatients and inpatients for urinary stone disease from 2009 to 2016 (R2  = 0.643, P = 0.017; R2  = 0.575, P = 0.029). The number of shock wave lithotripsy for treating urinary stone disease increased by 16% from 89 553 in 2009 to 104 013 in 2016 (R2  = 0.684). The number of ureteroscopic lithotripsy increased by 97% from 6106 in 2009 to 12 057 in 2016 (R2  = 0.99). The number of flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy increased by 16-fold from 219 in 2009 to 3712 in 2016 (R2  = 0.756). The number of percutaneous nephrolithotomy increased by 99.7% from 919 in 2009 to 1835 in 2016 (R2  = 0.987). The use of non-contrast and contrast-enhanced computed tomography in the diagnostic codes for urinary stone disease increased by 394.8% and 263.3% from 2009 to 2016, respectively (R2  = 0.83; R2  = 0.967). Conversely, the use of intravenous pyelography decreased 26.2% over the same period (R2  = 0.945). CONCLUSIONS: Outpatient and inpatient procedures for urinary stone disease have increased over the past 8 years in Korea. Shock wave lithotripsy is the most widely used treatment modality for urinary stone disease, and endoscopic surgical procedures are rapidly being implemented. There has been a steep increase in the use of computed tomography, whereas conventional intravenous pyelography is declining.