State-of-the-art management of renal stone disease in aviators and military special duty personnel.

New developments in the management and evaluation of military aviators, divers, submariners, or other special duty personnel with renal stone disease have simplified surgical management of this difficult problem and markedly reduced recuperation time. Aggressive treatment with newly developed modalities such as ureteroscopy and extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy, and careful metabolic evaluation and medical management will often allow the return to full duty of these valuable individuals and allow many who would previously have been permanently disqualified to continue in special duty status.