Preliminary experience with extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy monotherapy and bladder calculi.

During the period November 1988 to April 1989, eleven patients with bladder calculi, seen at our Centre, were offered ESWL therapy. However, only eight patients underwent ESWL. One patient passed his stone spontaneously, one requested endoscopic lithotrity as the initial mode of therapy and one underwent transurethral resection of the prostate and simultaneous endoscopic lithotrity of his bladder calculus. This series, though admittedly, small, nevertheless serves to introduce a safe and expeditious modality for the removal of bladder calculi. A high degree of patient acceptance and no treatment failures embolden us to advocate this modality as initial therapy for bladder calculi.