Results:
There were 139 patients in Group-1 and 43 patients in Group-2. The mean ages of the patients were 43.9 ± 10.6 and 67.8 ± 2.1 years in Group-1 and Group-2, respectively (p = 0.001). The mean stone size was 899 ± 292 mm2 in Group-1, it was 1,008 ± 208 mm2 in Group-2 (p = 0.736). Patient and stone characteristics were similar in both group. (Table 1).
When we examined the operative data, we determined that the durations of operation, nephroscopy and fluoroscopy were similar between the groups (p = 0.968, p = 0.149, and p = 0.342 respectively). (Table 2).
When we evaluated the postoperative results, we observed that the amount of hemoglobin drop was statistically higher in Group-1 (p = 0.001). However, the need for blood transfusion was found to be higher in Group-2 than in Group-1 (18.6% and 7.2%, respectively). Length of hospital stay and duration of nephrostomy tube were similar between two groups (p = 0.855 and p = 0.352, respectively). The stone-free rate was calculated as 54.7% in Group-1 and 67.4% in Group-2 (p = 0.139). Concerning the total complication rates, 34.5% of patients in Group-1 and 46.5% of those in Group-2 were observed to develop complications (p = 0.206). Postoperative complications and related results are shown in detail in Table 3.
When we examined the subgroups of complications according to the Clavien scoring system, the rate of minor complications was found to be 22.3% in Group-1 and 41.9% in Group-2 (p = 0.012). The major complication rates were determined as 4.7% and 12.2% in Group-1 and Group-2, respectively (p = 0.155). In addition, the rate of Clavien grade-2 complications was statistically higher in the elderly group (p = 0.019) ( Table 4).