The effect of age on outcomes in patients undergoing treatment for renal stones

Purpose of review Standard guidelines in management of urolithiasis might not be applicable to patients of extreme ages, namely children and the elderly population. This review summarizes the latest evidence on the effects of age on the outcomes, both treatment results and complications, in various treatment modalities for stone disease. Recent findings Although age has been recently reported to be a significant negative predictor in elderly patients with renal stones receiving shock wave lithotripsy (SWL) treatment, there is increasing evidence suggesting SWL is well tolerated in children. For percutaneous nephrolithotomy and ureteroscopy, literature has shown that the outcomes in both age groups are similar to normal adult patients. Summary Age does affect treatment outcome in patients with urinary stones. With the advance in endoscopy design and experience, percutaneous nephrolithotomy and ureteroscopy in these two extremes of age seem to be providing the same efficacy and safety as the standard adult population. However, for SWL, more precautions are to be taken for pediatric patients, For elderly patients, SWL may actually have a less satisfactory result than the other treatment modalities.