Introduction: The objective of this study was to compare fragmentation efficiency of the conventional regular mode of holmium laser to the Moses contact mode on a stone simulator.
Methods: The Lumenis® PulseTM P120 H holmium laser system, together with Moses D/F/L fibers were used to compare regular mode with Moses contact mode in a stone simulator model using flexible ureteroscopy with artificial stones. Efficiency of laser lithotripsy was measured by procedural time. Degree of stone retropulsion was also compared between regular and Moses modes using a Likert scale from 0 (no retropulsion) to 3 (maximum retropulsion).
Results: Using the stone simulator model, a significant reduction in stone retropulsion was noticed when comparing regular mode to the Moses contact mode (mean Grade 2.5 vs. Grade 1; p<0.01). When compared with the regular mode, the Moses contact mode was associated with significantly shorter procedural time during fragmentation (13.9 vs. 9.1 minutes; p≤0.01) and dusting (9.3 vs. 7.1 minutes; p≤0.01). In addition, when compared with the regular mode, the laser pedal was pressed significantly less often with the Moses mode during fragmentation (86 vs. 43 times; p<0.01) and dusting (50 vs. 26 times; p<0.01). Moses contact mode was associated with significantly higher percentage of lasing vs. pausing when compared with the regular mode for both fragmentation (0.8 J/10 Hz) and pulverization (0.4 J/50 Hz) settings (both p<0.05).
Conclusions: Using the stone simulator setup, Moses technology was associated with more efficient laser lithotripsy (shorter operative time) due to significantly reduced stone retropulsion.