Shockwave lithotripsy for urinary stones in patients with urinary diversion after radical cystectomy.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

During recent years, survival of patients with invasive bladder cancer has been improved by early diagnosis and radical treatment. Urinary lithiasis is not rare in patients who have been submitted to radical cystectomy and urinary diversion. We have demonstrated the effectiveness and safety of SWL for these patients.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We studied 11 patients who presented to our lithotripsy department suffering from urinary lithiasis after radical cystectomy. They were all cancer free at the time of treatment, and all underwent SWL on the Dornier HM-3 lithotripter as a first-line treatment. The mean stone burden was 1.85 cm(2), and the stone-to-patient ratio was 1:1.

RESULTS

The stone-free rate 1 month after SWL was 63.7%. Patients who were not stone free underwent a second SWL, and the stone-free rate after the second SWL session was 81.8%. We performed percutaneous nephrolithotripsy in one patient after the second SWL session because of the large stone burden remaining (3.2 cm(2)). The remaining patient was submitted to ureterolithotomy.

CONCLUSION

Application of SWL gives very good results in the treatment of urinary lithiasis in patients with a urinary diversion. Indeed, the results are equivalent to those achieved in patients without urinary diversion.