Purpose:to evaluate the effectiveness of post-procedure discharge criteria by assessing the incidence of procedure complications that require delayed hospitalization follow-ing discharge of outpatients undergoing percutaneous nephrostomy.Patients and Methods:the criteria used for outpatient discharge following percutaneousnephrostomy were the abvsence of shaking chilis,hypotension,uncontgrolled hypertension,and syspnoea in an alert and cooperative patient who was accompanied by motivated and ca-pable home czarfe providers.Follow-up consisted of direct discussion with referring physi-cians,and review of medical charts,imaging films,and image-guided procedure reports forall(n=23)outpatients who were discharged home following percutaneous nephrostomy atour institution between July 1991 and June 1994.The initial 17 patients were evaluatedregtrospectively whereas the last 6 patients were followed prospectively.Patient age rangedfrom 20 to 77 years with a mean of 49.Patients with benign disease(n=12)and malignancy(n=11)were treated.The spectrum of procedure complexity ranged from external percurta-neous nephrostomy(n=15)to external nephroureterostomy(n=7)and internalnephroureteral stent placement(n=1)with tube size ranging from 8 to 12 F.No patientshad coagulopathy but five patients had infected urine at the time of the procedure.Results.none of the outpatients who were discharged after meeting post-procedure criteriadied as a result of procedure complications or required later hospital admission for observationor treatment of peri-procedure complication.Conclusion:the results suggest that the post-procedure discharge criteria described hereinare effective in maintaining the safety of the outpatient percutaneous nephrostomy process. Purpose: to evaluate the effectiveness of post-procedure discharge criteria by assessing the incidence of procedure complications that require delayed hospitalization follow-ing discharge of outpatients undergoing percutaneous nephrostomy.Patients and Methods: the criteria used for outpatient discharge following percutaneousnephrostomy were the abvsence of shaking Chilis, hypotension, uncontgrolled hypertension, and syspnoea in an alert and cooperative patient who was accompanied by motivated and ca-pable home czarfe providers.Follow-up includeded in direct discussion with referring physi-cians,and review of medical charts,imaging films, And image-guided procedure reports forall (n=23)outpatients who were discharged home following percutaneous nephrostomy atour institution between July 1991 and June 1994.The initial 17 patients were evaluatedregtrospectively but then last 6 patients were followed prospectively.Patient age rangedfrom 20 to 77 Years with a mean of 49.Patients with benign dise Ase(n=12)and malignancy(n=11)were treated.The spectrum of procedure complexity ranged from external percurta-neous nephrostomy(n=15)to external nephroureterostomy(n=7) and internalnephroureteral stent placement(n=1) With tube size ranging from 8 to 12 F.No patientshad coagulopathy but five patients had infected urine at the time of the procedure.Results.none of the outpatients who were discharged after meeting post-procedure criteriadied as a result of procedure complications or required later Hospital admission for observationor treatment of peri-procedure complication.Conclusion: the records suggest that the post-procedual discharge conditions indicated interfaces are effective in maintaining the safety of the outpatient percutaneous nephrostomy process.