Patients' quality of life following extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy and percutaneous nephrolithotomy for renal calculi.

The objective of this study was to test whether the relatively new, noninvasive technique of extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy (ESWL) for renal stones resulted in a measurably better outcome from the patients' point of view than percutaneous surgery. The claimed superiority of ESWL was not demonstrated with the data available.