[Complications during and after extracorporeal lithotripsy in elderly patients]

Report of our experience of complications arisen from treatment of urinary lithiasis with extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy, using a Dornier HM3 lithotripter in 218 elderly patients (over 65 years). No complications arose during lithotripsy in 160 patients (73.39%). Most frequent complications (when they happened) were skin disorders, which occurred in 33 patients (15.13%). One hundred and thirty-six (62.38%) patients had no post-lithotripsy non-obstructive urological complications, but when these occurred, renal colic, evident in 52 patients (23.85%), was the most frequent one. During the post-lithotripsy period, 88.53% patients (193) had no obstructive urological complications. When they emerged, they usually developed asymptomatically (13 patients, 5.95%). With regard to the approach used to treat the obstructive cases, the most common one was medical, representing 56%. Surgery was used only in 2 occasions. A total of 175 patients (80.27%) presented no post-lithotripsy complication, fever of up to + 38 degrees C being the most prevalent condition (9.65%).