Gastric phytobezoar: endoscopic removal using the gallstone lithotripter.

Gastric bezoars are a common late complication of gastric surgery. Their treatment may be difficult. This is the first report on the removal of a very firm gastric phytobezoar by perendoscopic lithotripsy. The bezoar was detected 20 years after an unknown type of operation on the stomach, presumably truncal vagotomy and pyloroplasty. We propose the use of the lithotripter through the endoscope as an alternative treatment of firm and large gastric bezoars.