Pancreatic Stones and Extracorporeal Shockwave Lithotripsy: A Review of the Literature

Landon K. Brown, MD1 James Gnecco, DO2 Hussein Abidali, DO1 Shreyas Saligram, MD1 Laura Rosenkranz, MD1 Sandeep Patel, DO1 Oleh Haluszka, MD3 Umesha Boregowda, MD4 Hari Sayana, MD1 1Section of Gastroenterology, University of Texas Health Science, San Antonio, TX 2Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Health Science, San Antonio, TX 3Department of Gastroenterology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 4Bassett Medical Center, Cooperstown, NY Background & Aims: Pancreatic stones are a sequalae of chronic pancreatitis which can result in poor quality of life, frequent hospitalizations, and large economic burden to an individual and to the U.S. as a whole. Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) is a treatment modality currently available to treat pancreatic stones that is less invasive when compared to other methods. Our aim in this review article was to discuss the treatment of pancreatic stones by extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL). We will also briefly discuss other modalities and how these differ to ESWL.