Study design and population
malignancy, upper urinary tract calculi, upper urinary calculi, Urosepsis, urosepsis
PRIMARY INFECTION, UROSEPSIS, UROSEPSIS, DISEASES, URETERAL CALCULI
This retrospective study included patients with upper urinary tract calculi admitted to Shantou Central Hospital between January 2016 and January 2020. The inclusion criteria were 1) imaging results, including urinary system ultrasound, excretory urogram, or abdominopelvic computed tomography (CT) indicating a diagnosis of ureteral calculi, and 2) complete medical history, laboratory, and imaging data available. The exclusion criteria were 1) <14 years of age or pregnancy (women), 2) bilateral upper urinary calculi, 3) diseases of the blood or immune system, malignancy, or use of immunoregulatory therapy, or 4) other sites of primary infection, including lung or abdomen. Urosepsis was diagnosed based on the guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of urosepsis in 2018 ( The study followed the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the ethics committee for medical research at Shantou Central Hospital (IRB Number: 2019-sci-No.070). Due to the retrospective nature of the study, the requirement for informed consent was waived by the ethics committee.