[Extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy: experience with 1000 treatments]

6 1/2 years after the first clinical trials in Munich, extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy is a well established method for the treatment of urinary tract calculi. The number of open surgical interventions in urolithiasis has therefore markedly diminished. In hospitals with lithotriptors open surgical procedures are less than 1% today. In the first 16 months the Department of Urology at the University of Berne performed 1000 treatments with a kidney stone lithotriptor. The treatment was successful in 93.8%, a result comparable with those of other stone centres. During the last few months the indication for the treatment has been considerably enlarged. The new lithotriptors differ in several respects from the standard model by Dornier, though basically the principle of shockwaves remains unchanged.