Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy with Dornier MPL-9000 in 2005 patients
From October 1988 through December 1990, we treated 1221 male and 784 female patients aged 2 to 84 years for urolithiasis using the Dornier MPL-9000 lithotripter. Stones were located in calices or the renal pelvis in 34% of cases each, in the ureter in 17%, and in the bladder in 0.8%. Twelve per cent of the stones were branched renal calculi. The mean volume of the stones was 16 cm3 for branched calculi, 8 cm3 for renal pelvic calculi, 1.8 cm3 for caliceal calculi, 1.5 cm3 for ureteral calculi, and 19 cm3 for vesical calculi. In the 35% of patients who had stone volumes larger than 5 cm3, a ureteral stent was introduced before treatment. The kilovoltage was adjusted according to the size and location of the calculi. The average number of shock waves was 2150. It was necessary to re-treat 35% of the patients, with some having as many as 10 sessions, and the total number of sessions in the series was 3380. However, it proved possible to fragment 94% of the stones, with 80% of the patients being stone free a...