[Extracorporeal lithotripsy in sequelae of neurologic lesions]

We report on the results of shock wave extracorporeal lithotripsy in a series of 13 patients with urinary lithiasis and neurologic disease (5 tetraplegics, 6 paraplegics and 2 hemiplegics). Anesthesia, positioning and complementary endourologic procedures in a group of patients in whom many factors contribute to lithogenesis are discussed. Sixteen renal units were treated with good stone fragmentation in all cases. Seventy-five percent of the patients remained stone-free three months later. Complications were few (15%) and minor (mainly post-operative fever) and the hospital stay was short (average 5 days). We advocate this technique as the treatment of choice of urolithiasis in patients with neurologic sequelae because of its safety, relative noninvasiveness and good results, especially in calculi smaller than 2 cm.