[Treatment of bile duct calculi with extracorporeal lithotripsy]

Currently there are several non-surgical procedures on biliary duct stones treatment; one of them is extracorporeal shock-waves lithotripsy (ESWL), which has advantages over the others. It is safe, effective and non invasive method, that does not need direct contact with the stone and has low morbidity. We treated 10 patients with ESWL generated by a piezoelectric system with ultrasonic localization. The stones were fragmented in 80% of the patients and eventually the concrements were eliminated in 63%. The complications were one case of hemobilia and another of pancreatitis.