Anaesthesia for extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy at the Victorian Lithotripsy Service--the first 300 patients

A prospective survey was undertaken of the anaesthesia for the first 300 patients at the Victorian Lithotripsy Service. The majority (71.7%) were not hospitalised on site, including four quadriplegics and two ASA grade IV patients. Two hundred and eighty-three (94.3%) patients received continuous lumbar epidural anaesthesia, sixteen (5.3%) received general anaesthesia and one received a spinal anaesthetic. Eighty-two patients (27.3%) underwent ancillary procedures at the time of extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy. The most common intraoperative complications were hypotension (72 patients, 25.4%) and shivering (39 patients, 13.8%). Arrhythmias occurred in nine (3%) patients. There was a 90% patient follow-up rate and the most common postoperative complication was backache (101 patients, 37.4%). The problems of anaesthesia for extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy are discussed. Epidural anaesthesia offers a number of advantages for this procedure and proved very suitable for the majority of patients.