National Imaging Trends after Ureteroscopic or Shock Wave Lithotripsy for Nephrolithiasis

Purpose: The study of diagnostic imaging after procedural intervention for nephrolithiasis is limited. We sought to characterize actual national imaging patterns and longitudinal trends after ureteroscopic or shock wave lithotripsy.Materials and Methods: We analyzed the MarketScan® database and identified a nationally representative sample of insured, employed patients, 17 to 64 years old who underwent ureteroscopic or shock wave lithotripsy for nephrolithiasis between 2007 and 2014. Patients were excluded from study if they lacked at least 1 year of postoperative database enrollment or underwent a repeat nephrolithiasis procedure of any type within 90 days after the initial procedure. We identified and tracked postoperative imaging modalities by medical billing codes.Results: We identified 101,554 patients treated with ureteroscopy, of whom 55% and 39% underwent no postoperative imaging within 3 and 12 months, respectively. Of the 101,590 patients treated with shock wave lithotripsy 23% and 16% underwent...