Science / Medicine : Shock Waves for Gallstones

A powerful blast of shock waves can smash gallstones inside the body and may someday replace surgery for more than 100,000 Americans each year, experts reported.

The procedure, called lithotripsy, has already become the standard treatment for kidney stones. Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that it will also be useful for many people with gallstones, which are four times more common.

Doctors at the University of Munich showed that the procedure is “a safe and effective treatment in selected patients” with gallstones. The West German study is the first large-scale examination of the therapy for people with this problem.

More than 150 hospitals in the United States already have shock wave machines for smashing kidney stones. Since its approval in 1984, the therapy has become routine for many of the 120,000 Americans who once required kidney stone surgery each year. An estimated 475,000 Americans undergo gallstone surgery annually.

“Most of us think that at least 20% and maybe even a third to half of the (gallstone) patients in the United States within three to five years could be treated by this means,” said Dr. Randolph B. Reinhold, a researcher at New England Medical Center in Boston. “A significant number of people who are treated with surgery could be treated without surgery.”

Reinhold is among U.S. experts who plan to begin testing the shock wave machines, called lithotriptors, next spring.