Does respiratory gating improve extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy results?

The reliability and efficacy of extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (SWL) has been established in urinary stone disease. Its combination with respiratory gating might be a useful method to increase the effectiveness of treatment and reduce the number of shocks required. For this purpose, the results of SWL combined with respiratory gating were compared with those of SWL without gating. There was no difference in the stone-free rates of the two groups or in the complication rate. It is concluded that this method neither decreases the number of shockwaves needed nor increases the effectiveness of SWL.