S.V. Shomchenko, E.P. Ukrainetz

Innovations and achievements in diagnostics and treatment of nephrolithiasis (a review of the literature)

This review summarizes recent literature on advances in the overall field of urolithiasis. Clinical management in everyday practice requires a complete understanding of the issues regarding metabolic evaluation and subgrouping of stone-forming patients, diagnostic procedures, effective treatment regime of medical expulsive therapy, and active stone removal. In this review we focus on new perspectives in managing nephrolitihiasis and discuss recent advances, including medical expulsive therapy, new technologies, and refinements of classical therapy such as shock wave lithotripsy. Overall, this field appears to be the most promising, capable of new developments in ureterorenoscopy and percutaneous approaches. Further improvements are expected from robotic-assisted procedures, such as flexible robotics in ureterorenoscopy.