Introduction:
Globally, individuals aged 65 and over are defined as the ‘elderly population’ (1). Especially in developed and developing countries, the decrease in birth rates, as well as the prolongation of life expectancy at birth and advanced age have led to a relative increase in the elderly population and its share in the total population. As a result of this increase, more elderly patients require treatment due to urinary system stones. Staghorn stones are of particular concern in this age group because the treatment of such stones may require lengthy and multiple procedures and has a high complication rate.
Staghorn stones are branching and usually infected stones that cover a large part of the collecting system (2). Failure to achieve stone-free status may lead to the complete loss of function and sepsis in the kidney by destroying the renal parenchyma. Guidelines recommend percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) as the gold standard treatment modality for renal stones > 2 cm (3). Overall stone-free rates in patients with PCNL reach 96.1% (4). However, since multiple percutaneous accesses may be required to remove all stone branches in staghorn stones, it is very difficult to achieve stone-free status in a single session in these patients (5). Therefore, as reported in previous studies, stone-free rates in staghorn stones can decrease to 56.9% (6). In addition to these low stone-free rates after PCNL, staghorn stones also have high complication rates. In a prospective randomized study, the intraoperative complication rate of PCNL applied in the treatment of staghorn stones was found to be 16.3%, and the postoperative major complication rate was determined as 18.6% (7)
There are concerns related to the safe applicability of PCNL in geriatric patients with staghorn stones, who have bleeding tendency and low cardiopulmonary performance. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to compare the results between elderly and younger patients who underwent PCNL for treatment of staghorn renal stones.