[Laser lithotripsy of the upper urinary tract].

Approximately 10% of all stone patients require an endoscopic stone treatment. With the advent of laserlithotripters a new technology became available, featuring extremely thin (200 microns) and flexible lithotripsy probes. As a consequence, miniscopes have been developed for endoscopic stone manipulation in the ureter. These miniscopes greatly facilitate ureteroscopy and expectantly will reduce complications associated with this procedure. The success rates of laserlithotripsy are in the 90% range, the only serious drawback are the high purchase costs of the laser. Independent from these new possibilities for intracorporeal lithotripsy, extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) remains the first therapy of choice for ureteral calculi.