MANAGEMENT OF VESICAL CALCULI - COMPARISON OF LITHOTRIPSY DEVICES

Although endoscopic lithotripsy of bladder stones has been well descri bed and is widely practiced, comparison of the main modalities of mech anical, electrohydraulic, and ultrasonic lithotripsy is lacking, The e xact role of these and other modalities such as the Swiss Lithoclast a nd extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy is not clearly defined, The sa fety and efficacy of the various lithotripsy modalities available to t reat bladder calculi were reviewed retrospectively over an 18-year per iod, A total of 106 patients were treated with some form of intracorpo real lithotripsy. In general, all devices proved to be effective with a low rate of complications, The addition of transurethral resection o f the prostate to bladder stone management under the same anesthetic w its also found to be a safe procedure for moderate benign prostatic hy perplasia. In summary, transurethral endoscopic lithotripsy is a safe and effective method of bladder stone management both alone and in com bination with transurethral prostatectomy, All modalities of intracorp oreal lithotripsy are effective; however, devices such as ultrasound l ithotripters or the Swiss Lithoclast that utilize larger, rigid probes may be more efficient for patients with large or particularly hard ve sical calculi.