Effect of less invasive treatment modalities on handling urolithiasis in Belgium

Recent developments in technology, such as extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy and endoscopic tools for renoscopy and ureteroscopy, have dramatically changed the way supravesical urolithiasis is treated. In Belgium, all medical acts are recorded by the Belgian State Institute for Sickness and Invalidity Insurance. Data from 1978 until 1991 are given and compared with treatment data of the University Hospital of Ghent. The steady patterns, noted at the end of the 70s and during the early 80s, were disturbed when new endoscopic tools became available; these caused a slight increase in the number of treatments. When extracorporeal shock wave lithotriptors became commercially available, a dramatic change occurred: the overall number of stone treatment sessions tripled.