Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) has been established as noninvasive treatment of choice for the great majority of upper urinary tract stones. However the management of staghorn stones in solitary kidney still deserves special consideration. We reviewed retrospectively 11 patients with staghorn stones in solitary kidney treated mainly with the Dornier HM-3 lithotripter during the period between December 1984 and December 1989 at the Sagamidai Hospital. The contralateral kidneys of the 8 patients were nephrectomized or nonfunctioning due to stone disease and those of 3 patients were nephrectomized due to tuberculosis. They were consisted of 6 males and 5 females with average ages of 60.0 years and 48.6 years respectively. The size of the stones ranged from 30 x 30 mm to 85 x 40 mm in KUB. ESWL was the first treatment for all the cases except for one patient a cystine stone. In that patient, ESWL was preceded by percutaneous nephrolithotripsy (PNL). In three patients the treatment was successfully by ESWL alone without any obvious complication. In 6 patients percutaneous nephrostomy was required and in two patients PNL was performed as an auxiliary procedure. Seven patients developed high fever (over 38.5 degrees C) and two of them became septic during the course of treatment. In five patients serum creatinine elevated over 2.0 mg/dl, but returned to within normal limits postoperatively. Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy can play a major role in the patient of the staghorn stones in solitary kidney.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)