Stone-related ED visits before surgery vary by modality, race, and neighborhood vulnerability
Retrospective · Urology · 2026-11-09. Number 4 in the UrologyWatch Top 5 for November 9, 2026.
In an analysis of over 1 million patients from an EHR network, acute stone-related healthcare utilization in the year before definitive surgery was higher before PCNL and lower before SWL versus ureteroscopy, and increased with Black race and higher social vulnerability index, but not rurality.
Why it matters: Raises the question of whether access barriers contribute to acute presentations before definitive stone surgery, warranting prospective evaluation.
Limitation: Retrospective registry analysis (Epic Cosmos) without clinical stone characteristics; cannot distinguish access barriers from disease severity.
Source: Urology · PubMed 43000077 · DOI 10.1016/j.urology.2026.10.034
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