Extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL)--a report on the first 500 patients.

This paper presents the results of the treatment of the first 500 patients treated with the second generation lithotriptor SIEMENS "LITHOSTAR". In 500 patients with 607 stones 521 treatments were performed in 799 sessions. Six months after the ESWL treatment 522 out of 607 stones (86%) were desintegrated completely, i.e. 87.2% of the patients were stone-free. The best results were obtained with solitary pelvic (95.51%) and ureteral stones (95.8%). In 52 patients (10.4%) complications due to obstruction were successfully solved by endoscopic procedures. These results clearly present ESWL as the best method in the treatment of urolithiasis patients.