Bead beating demonstrates enhanced bacterial detection in kidney stone culture compared to traditional mortar-pestle processing.

Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) is a standard operation for treating large kidney stones but carries a risk of postoperative infection. Recent guidelines recommend obtaining a stone culture or kidney stone culture, yet no standardized protocol exists for processing kidney stones. Bead beating (BB) is a standardizable method of specimen preparation technique, which has been utilized for bacterial culture in other fields, but its application to kidney stone cultures is novel. Sixty kidney stone specimens were collected prospectively from patients undergoing PCNL, and each specimen was processed by either BB or mortar and pestle (MP). Following homogenization, samples were cultured with the standard procedure for a high-quality urine culture. Microorganisms were identified using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry and quantified following standard laboratory procedures. Statistical comparisons were performed using McNemar's test and paired IMPORTANCE: This study provides a rapid and standardized method for kidney stone culture using bead beating, which significantly improves microbial detection compared to traditional mortar-pestle techniques. This method accelerates processing and enhances sensitivity for identifying microbes present in kidney stones, offering the potential for more accurate diagnoses. By providing a robust and efficient protocol, it paves the way for standardized practices across laboratories and clinical settings.