Abstract
Endoscopic stone removal including lithotripsy and the extracorporeal shock-wawe lithotripsy are important parts of the stones disease treatment.As far as the devices for desintegration are concerned, the laser lithotripsy is superior to the common procedures such as ballistic, ultrasonic and electrohydraulic lithotripsy. In practice,the laser devices containing the solid lasing medium of the lanhtanoid-doped Yttrium-Aluminium-Garnet (YAG) crystal (especially Ho:YAG and Nd: YAG) are currently the only lasers used in this field.Among these, the Ho: YAG laser represents the most effective and universal solution.
Both the Tm: YAG and Er: YAG lasers or a combination of one of them and one of the above mentioned are somewhat recent addition. The article presents the list of current possibilities of laser lithotripsy and the summary of preliminary results of new methods used.