Jean de la Rosette and Stavros Gravas

When the concept of CROES was envisaged and introduced, we could only speculate and share with our colleagues our expectations regarding the feasibility of global studies. The Global PCNL study was the first project launched by CROES and was concluded on December 31, 2009. In total, 5,803 patients were treated in 96 centers and were enrolled in the PCNL database that provides significant insight on academic and community practice and covers the entire spectrum from high to more restricted volume centers. It is obvious that these figures convincingly prove that creation of a global network of endocenters is realistic and can serve as the basis for promoting international clinical research and conduct of multicenter large-scale clinical studies.

Now, it is time to bring into light all those who make this achievement feasible. As it was stated before, ¹ participating centers are granted with a certificate signed by the chairman of CROES, the secretary general, and the president of the Endourological Society at the end of each study (Fig. 1). Therefore, all eligible centers that contributed to the PCNL study have received this certificate that verifies the valuable participation of each department in the project and recognizes its altruistic contribution to clinical research in the field of endourology and emerging technologies.

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FIG. 1.

Example of CROES certificate.

The CROES Council feels the need to further acknowledge all those who were actively involved in the Global PCNL project. These 96 centers were the first to believe in this effort (more followed and joined ongoing projects) and represent the backbone of the CROES global network for future studies. See Table 1 for a list of these centers and names of the principal investigators involved. A complete list of the contributing centers, along with photos of the principal investigators, is also available on the CROES website: www.croesoffice.org

In addition, the first manuscript on PCNL entitled “The CROES PCNL Study—Indications and Outcomes in 5,803 Cases” (authors: Jean de la Rosette, Dean Assimos, Mahesh Desai, Jorge Gutierrez, James Lingeman, Roberto Scarpa and Ahmet Tefekli) has been submitted to Journal of Endourology for publication. At the end of this descriptive article, an appendix of all the involved endocenters has been attached. Four more articles are in preparation and/or are ready for submission; the Publication Office coordinates the entire process in order to secure the unobstructed and timely flow of data publication and to guard the guidelines of publications set forth by CROES.

CROES is you; therefore, send us your feedback or suggestions to further improve this common effort. The time is now—with CROES, the ability is yours. ²