AUA releases updated staghorn stone guidelines

New AUA clinical guidelines on the management of staghorn calculi recommend that most patients with staghorn stones should have percutaneous nephrolithotomy as initial treatment.

Open surgery should not be used for most patients, according to the guidelines. Other therapy-related recommendations suggest appropriate roles for combination therapy and SWL monotherapy, as well as options for management of staghorn stones in children and partial staghorn calculi.

The new report is an update of staghorn calculi guidelines originally issued in 1994, said Glenn M. Preminger, MD, of Duke University in Durham, NC, who served as chairman of the guidelines panel. The guidelines are available on AUA's web site at www.auanet.org/guidelines.