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.