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A prospective uncontrolled multicenter trial was performed on 113 patients with bile duct stones in whom routine endoscopic approaches for removal of the calculi had failed. These represented 8.3% of the patients referred to the participating centers for endoscopic extraction of the stones. Extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy using the Dornier kidney lithotripter achieved stone disintegration in 103 patients (91%). Complete stone clearance from the bile ducts was obtained in 97 patients (86%) after a median of 4 days following extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy. Adverse effects, mostly mild, occurred in 36% of the patients. A 30-day mortality rate of 0.9% (in-hospital mortality rate = 1.8%) of this high-risk group with a mean age of 72 yr and a cholangitis rate of 26% compared favorably with the data given for open surgery. We therefore consider extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy a useful method for the treatment of bile duct stones not amenable to routine endoscopic measures.
T Sauerbruch, and
M Stern
May 1987,
Tidsskrift for den Norske laegeforening : tidsskrift for praktisk medicin, ny raekke,
T Sauerbruch, and
M Stern
February 1992,
Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.),
T Sauerbruch, and
M Stern
November 1992,
Bailliere's clinical gastroenterology,
T Sauerbruch, and
M Stern
April 1995,
Zeitschrift fur Gastroenterologie,
T Sauerbruch, and
M Stern
January 2001,
Gastrointestinal endoscopy,
T Sauerbruch, and
M Stern
January 1989,
Surgery,
T Sauerbruch, and
M Stern
May 1998,
Endoscopy,
T Sauerbruch, and
M Stern
June 1999,
Gastrointestinal endoscopy,
T Sauerbruch, and
M Stern
January 1998,
American journal of surgery,
T Sauerbruch, and
M Stern
December 2002,
Gastroenterologia y hepatologia,
