Treatment of urinary stones by extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy.

A total of 1641 ESWL-treatments were performed in 948 patients at Helsinki University Central Hospital between June 1989 and December 1991. In a series of 816 patients and 1287 treatments with data available 681 (76.4%) stones were located in the kidney, 208 (23.3%) in the ureter, and three (0.3%) in the urinary bladder. Auxiliary procedures were performed in 156 (19.1%) and repeated treatments in 300 (36.8%) patients. The most common complication was intensive pain during the procedure in 138 (16.9%) patients. The first 139 patients were followed until six months after their last ESWL-procedure. The six-month stone-free rates of renal and ureteric stones of these patients were 67.4% and 86.7%, respectively. The overall six-month clearance rate was 72.4%.