[Contact litholysis and contact lithotripsy of symptomatic biliary calculi]

Contact litholysis and lithotripsy are invasive methods of gallstone destruction, since the gallbladder must necessarily be approached by the transhepatic or transperitoneal routes or through Oddi's sphincter. Both methods expose to complications which may require a corrective operation. The risk of recurrence is the same as with extracorporeal lithotripsy. Unless proved otherwise by further clinical trials, in the future these experimental methods should be used in a very small number of patients.