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Intraductal pneumatic lithotripsy for salivary stones with the StoneBreaker: Preliminary experience
Michael Koch1, Konstantinos Mantsopoulos1, Mirco Schapher1
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Objectives/Hypothesis:
To test the effectiveness of a newly approved pneumatic lithotripter for fragmentation of salivary stones.
Study Design:
Retrospective study in a tertiary referral center.
Methods:
In 44 patients, 49 stones were primarily treated with direct endoscopic guidance using the StoneBreaker. Twenty-three stones were located in the parotid gland and 26 in the submandibular gland.
Results:
Complete fragmentation was achieved combined extracorporeal in 97.7% of the stones. All of the patients became symptom free, and 97.7% were stone free. Three patients underwent lithotripsy procedures. Altogether additional treatment was necessary in five cases to achieve stone clearance. The reason for residual sialolithiasis was intraparenchymal repulsion of a residual fragment (n = 1). The glands were preserved in all cases.
Conclusions:
Endoscopically guided intraductal pneumatic lithotripsy using the StoneBreaker is an effective and promising procedure for the treatment of sialolithiasis.
Level Of Evidence:
4 Laryngoscope, 126:1545-1550, 2016.
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