Extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy of kidney and ureteric stones

Extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy (ESWL) has become a routine therapy for the management of stone patients at our department. Till now ESWL has been performed on 1,000 patients. Although the indications for this noninvasive treatment have been expanded significantly, 90% of the patients have been stone free after treatment, 9.3% have small remaining stone particles, while only 0.7% have to be operated on. There was no alteration of kidney function after treatment. ESWL has proven to be a safe alternative to surgical stone removal within an increasing indication range.