Extremely slow, half-number shockwave lithotripsy as effective as standard for treating ureteral stones: Study

Japan: For the treatment of ureteral stones, the outcomes of extremely slow, half-number shockwave lithotripsy are comparable to the standard protocol, a recent study in the journal Urolithiasis has found. 

Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy is a technique for the treatment of stones in the kidney and ureter that do not need surgery. In the procedure, high-energy shock waves are passed through the body and used for breaking stones into pieces as small as grains of sand. These small pieces can then easily pass from the body with urine. 

Toru Kanno, Department of Urology, Ijinkai Takeda General Hospital, Kyoto, Japan, and colleagues conducted the study with the objective to elucidate and compare the safety and efficacy of the reduced (30 shocks/min with 1200 shocks/session) and standard protocols (60 shocks/min with 2400 shocks/session) of extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (SWL) for treating ureteral stones.

For this purpose, the researchers conducted a retrospective review between March 2014 and March 2021 of 2410 SWL procedures with reduced or standard protocols (groups R and S) in 1106 patients for ureteral stones.