Emergency extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy: A study on feasibility and efficacy in stone clearance and reducing morbidity in ureteric and renal stones with colic

Objectives: Evaluation of safety, efficacy, and feasibility of emergency extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (eESWL) in combating obstructing stones with colic on emergency basis. Materials and methods: From November 2019 to November 2021, 102 subjects underwent emergency ESWL for obstructing ureteric and renal stones with colic within 24 h of presentation. Results: Patients in this study belonged to age group of 18-67 years with mean being 39 years consisting of 85 males and 22 females (M:F = 85:22). Mean stone dimensions were 8.26 mm in length and 7.65 mm in width. A total of 42 patients had their stone in kidney or upper ureter while 24 patients had stone in mid ureter and remaining patients (n = 36) had stone in lower ureter. About 65 patients had their stone completely cleared after single ESWL session while 20 patients required multiple sessions to achieve complete clearance. Of these 17 patients (16.67%) were not rendered stone free even after three sessions and had to undergo ureteroscopic lithotripsy (URSL). Overall Stone Free Rate (SFR) was 83.33%. For stone attenuation of <= 900 HU, SFR was 97.18% while for >900 HU it was only 51.61%. Conclusion: eESWL is safe, feasible, and efficacious noninvasive alternative for definitive management of obstructing ureteral and renal stones with colic as far as stone clearance and rapid and definitive pain relief are concerned and that too with very minimal morbidity without the need for admission and hence can reduce the prolonged waiting period for endoscopic stone surgery in any high-volume tertiary care hospital. Length, width, and attenuation of stone were found to be the main factors dictating the success of eESWL.