[Caliceal stones:What did we learned after 10 years of ESWL (extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy)].

Since its first clinical application in 1980, the indication of ESWL has rapidly extended from renal pelvis stones to almost all urinary stones. The authors discuss about their experience accumulated in the past ten years, when 476 patients with caliceal stones were treated by ESWL. The global stone free rate was 60.05%, but almost a third of the patients (where fragmentation was radiological documented after ESWL) did not returned back for control. ESWL is a good solution for superior and middle calix stones less than 1.5 cm, not very opaque, with a sufficient large caliceal width. For the stones in the lower calix, the most important criteria for success are: the stone size, the opacity and, for sure, the angle between infundibulopelvic and ureteropelvic axis.