PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Although most ureteral and urinary stones are managed using endourologic techniques or shockwave lithotripsy in daily clinical practice, stone surgery has not completely disappeared. Laparoscopy, another minimally invasive treatment, is continuously gaining place in the treatment of urinary stones, mainly replacing open surgery. RECENT FINDINGS: Indications for open or laparoscopic stone surgery are anatomic abnormalities, such as horseshoe kidneys, malrotated kidneys, ureteropelvic junction obstruction with stones, or ectopic kidneys; symptomatic stones in diverticula; extremely large stones and all those situations in which conventional endourologic procedures and extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy are not available or were unsuccessful or in those conditions where laparoscopy offers a priori the best solution to an endourologic complex condition. SUMMARY: Laparoscopic surgery is effective for complex urinary stones and allows adjunctive procedures. It complements other minimally invasive procedures, and a need for open surgery has strongly diminished.
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