Severe pulmonary contusion after extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy

Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) is a simple and effective treatment of urinary stones. Renowned less aggressive than surgery, it knew a wide success and constitutes therefore the treatment of first intention of the majority of the kidney stones. Nevertheless, traumatic renal and extrarenal complications notably in lung can arise after ESWL. We report the case of a 28-year-old patient who had a pulmonary contusion following a lithotripsy for a left kidney stone and whose evolution was favourable after two weeks in intensive care unit. Through this observation and the analysis of the rare reported cases in the literature, we insist on the different varieties of pulmonary complications of the ESWL, the hypothesis explaining the mechanisms of their arising as well as the precautions to take to avoid them.