[Therapy of nephrolithiasis].

Urolithiasis has always been a well known phenomenon to mankind. Whereas up to the beginning of the 19th century, open surgery for bladder stones was known to be a high risk operation due to its frequent complications, nowadays we are able to disintegrate renal and vesical calculi into spontaneously excretable fragments by means of shock waves generated extracorporeally (ESWL). The physical principles of shock waves and their impact on the stone are explained. By means of ESWL the time of hospitalisation as well as of recovery can be massively reduced saving billions to our economy.