[Extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy of bile duct calculi]

Shockwave therapy of bile duct stones is not dependent on difficult preconditions concerning stone-volume and -composition or subsequent lythic therapy. Its main indication is failure of endoscopic sphincterotomy (EST). Shockwave lithotripsy of bile duct stones--which may even be carried out even instead of EST in specific cases--is with a success rate of 80 to 95% as effective as shockwave lithotripsy in urology.