[The current status and place of open surgery in treating urolithiasis]

Within the concept of treatment of urinary calculosis, open surgery still occupies a firm place. At present, however, the indications for open surgical interventions have been considerably narrowed, and only a small group of patients with urinary calculosis are subject of open surgery, which requires experienced operators and special instruments for optimally sparing performance of the operation. Often intraoperative echography makes useless the application of intraoperative hypothermia and intraoperative X-ray diagnosis.