''Crushing the stone'': a brief history of lithotripsy, the ...
2008-7-22 · ''Crushing the stone'': a brief history of lithotripsy, the first minimally invasive surgery. ... to the morbid and frequently fatal perineal lithotomy practised for thousands of years to relieve sufferers of bladder stones. Lithotripsy developed in stages, first by learning how to pass a straight hollow sound, then drilling stones to break ...