Staghorn calculi: percutaneous extraction versus anatrophic nephrolithotomy.

We compared the procedure time, success rates, complications and recovery times for percutaneous ultrasonic lithotripsy (75 cases) and anatrophic nephrolithotomy (25) in patients with staghorn stones. Although the frequency of retained stone fragments was higher in the former group (13.3 versus 0 per cent), the shorter total procedure time (average 155.1 versus 266.5 minutes), lesser need for blood transfusions (average 2 units packed red cells in 53 per cent of the patients versus 3.5 units in 70 per cent) and narcotics (average 16 versus 33 doses), and far more rapid return to work (average 14.3 versus 54.5 days after the patients were discharged from the hospital) strongly favor percutaneous over open stone removal.