[Is extracorporeal cholelithotripsy still justified as treatment in cholelithiasis?]

This prospective study evaluates the results of extracorporeal shock-wave piezoelectric lithotripsy in 52 patients, 41 with radiolucent and 11 with calcified shell gallstones. The fragmentation rate was above 90% and the complication rate 31%, with pain or intolerance to the adjuvant dissolution therapy in particular. At the end of the treatment, 7 cholecystectomies were carried out among the 31 patients in whom lithotripsy failed. After 18 months, the success rate was 23% and only 12 patients remained stone free. Nowadays, thanks to the new laparoscopic therapy, extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy is no longer judged appropriate, particularly in view of its poor cost-effectiveness and high recurrence ratio.