Surgery of urinary calculi in perspective.

Technical developments have stimulated an international interest in the dissolution of kidney stones without conventional surgery. Such techniques and instruments include real-time or manipulative imaging; the transmission and focusing of energy through body tissue by conduits or pulsation; and the instrumentation for percutaneous visual and manipulative entry into the renal pelvis. Proper assessment of these new approaches to the removal of calculi will require extensive data collected over several decades. This review sets some bench marks for the current state of the art of intrarenal surgery for the removal of calculi.