Treatment of Urinary Bladder Stones with Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy

With the Siemens Lithostar, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) can be performed without anesthesia, and the patient can be treated in the prone position. These characteristics allow treatment of urinary bladder stones. We treated eight selected male patients suffering from urinary bladder stones. In no case was general or spinal anesthesia necessary. In all patients, treatment was well tolerated using intravenous analgesia/sedation. Stone fragmentation and fragment elimination were successful in all cases. In two cases, we obtained fragmentation of the stone with three treatments; in three cases, with two treatments; and in three cases, with one treatment. In one patient endoscopy and surgery were not options, leaving ESWL as the only possible treatment choice.