Endoscopic papillotomy is a method of incising the papillary spincters without opening the abdominal wall or the duodenum. It is successful in over 95% of cases. In over 80% of cases passage of choledochus concrement occurs, about half of these stones being excreted spontaneously and the rest having to be extracted actively with a small Domia basket. For large concrements which cannot be removed endoscopically even after wide papillotomy incision, there is the electrohydraulic lithotrite which crushes them so that they can be passed spontaneously or be actively extracted. Dissolution by a substance instilled through a catheter passed through the papilla into the common bile duct is still in the experimental stage. Altogether for this reason endoscopic papillotomy and removal of stones is an advance for the patient at risk, as it involves a lower lethality than the corresponding surgical method.