Clinical experience with extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy MFL-5000 for urinary stone

A Dornier MFL 5000, a new generation extracorporeal shock wave lithotripter, was installed in our hospital and the first Japanese clinical experience has been collected between July and November in 1989. We report our experience with the first 35 patients with 45 stones who were treated in 42 treatments using ESWL. We followed up 3 weeks. No invasive anesthesia was performed except 2 cases of epidural anesthesia. A double J catheter was installed in 2 patients, a ureteral catheter in 4 patients, and PNL was performed in 2 patients before ESWL. We did not use a PNL or a TUL in the postoperative treatment. In the 3 week followed up period, 29 patients (82.9%) were completely free from stone fragments. No serious complications were observed after ESWL. We conclude that the DORNIER MFL 5000 is effective for renal and ureteral stones without serious complications.