[Extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy. Current status in treatment of kidney calculus disease]

The introduction of extracorporal shock wave lithotripsy has led to a revolution in stone management. After five years of clinical experience with increasing use of second generation lithotripters, the following conclusions can be drawn: There is an increasing tendency to employ ESWL for ureteral calculi, although only 60% of those can be located by ultrasound. In the case of staghorn stones, a differentiated approach is adopted (ESWL-, PCNL-monotherapy or a combination of the two) depending on stone size, localisation, chemical composition, radiodensity, and the state of the collecting system. With almost all second generation lithotripters, ESWL can be performed under i.v.-analgesia. Some machines with a large-aperture shock wave source (i.e. Wolf Piezolith, Edap LT 01, Dornier MPL 9000) even permit painfree treatment without the need for analgesia. However, this is associated with a 30% increase in retreatment rate. Further development of low-cost lithotripters and increasing use of ESWL for biliary stones make it necessary for ever more hospitals to face the question of installing such a machine. In this situation, the choice must be based on the local situation (i.e. number of patients, interdisciplinary use of ESWL).