Kidney Stones

The Food and Drug Administration has announced its approval of the electrohydraulic shock-wave lithotripter for the treatment of kidney stones. The article in The Times (Dec. 20) accurately described this new machine as an “authentic medical miracle,” which destroys stones without the need for surgery. The article also indicates that Dr. George M. Drach has been testing one of the machines at the University of Arizona. Dr. Drach, a personal friend and an authority on stone disease, functioned as a consultant to the FDA committee reviewing the lithotripter machine’s efficacy and safety.

In fact, the first lithotripter in the Western United States will be installed in the Frank Clark Urology Center at UCLA within the next several months. The person primarily responsible for developing the electrohydraulic lithotripter concept for the treatment of kidney stones, Dr. Christian Chaussy from Munich, will join the faculty at UCLA as professor of urology next month, bringing to the Southern California community the greatest possible expertise in the utilization of this revolutionary technology.

JEAN B. deKERNION MD Acting Chief Division of Urology UCLA School of Medicine