Percutaneous nephrolithotomy for large and staghorn calculi.

The treatment of choice for a stone load of up to 3 cm is indubitably extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (SWL). However, for larger stones, and particularly staghorn calculi, the choice is not that clearcut. Our experience with percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) for a stone load larger than 3 cm in 878 renal units over 9 years has left us convinced that a well-planned and determined effort at percutaneous clearance is the best option for these difficult cases. Our overall complete clearance rate in this group is 93% and ranges from 98.5% for solitary calculi to 71% for complete staghorn calculi. These results are comparable to those reported by other workers with percutaneous monotherapy and are superior to those achieved by SWL monotherapy. The complication rate was acceptably low at 4%. We conclude that the expeditiousness and the better stone-free rates of PCNL justify the slightly higher morbidity that it entails when compared with SWL monotherapy. We also prefer to aim for total clearance percutaneously, leaving for SWL only those stones that defy our best efforts.