THE ROLE OF EXTRACORPOREAL SHOCK-WAVE LIT HOTRIPSY CENTERS IN THE METABOLIC EVALUATION OF STONE FORMERS - A POLL OF 150 CENTERS

Questionnaires were mailed anonymously to 150 German shock wave center s. Twenty questions addressed the following areas of interest: - Facil ities of the extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) center (tech nical, personnel, laboratory, etc.) - Cooperation at ESWL center with referring urologists - Laboratory facilities versus actual metabolic w ork-up. The return rate was 114 of 150 (76 %). Surprisingly, at 58 % o f the centers the average number of treatments is less than two per da y. In 30 % of the centers only chemical stone analysis is done! The fi nal conclusion was that ESWL has largely replaced the causal metabolic work-up and subsequent metaphylaxis as a symptomatic measure against urolithiasis.