Surgical approach to urolithiasis: the state of art

Twenty years after its introduction, extracorporeal lithotripsy is still predominantly used. The increased prevalence of small urinary calculi has brought about a change in clinical symptoms, with frequent episodes of renal-ureteral colic, persistent pain and hydronephrosis. In everyday urological practice armamentarium there are several methods and techniques to actively remove the stones that can obtain good levels of efficacy and good patients compliance. We aimed to describe the principal surgical techniques.