[Technical aspects of intraoperative assessment of treatment progress in laser lithotripsy].

Background: During laser-induced fragmentation, differences in assessing the intraoperative results can depend on the individual characteristics of the laser system used.
Methods: Laser parameters like pulse energy and repetition rate, the penetration depth in silicon tissue, and the laser beam width on photographic paper were determined for three different clinical laser systems.
Results: Pulse energy and repetition rate were subject to variations depending on the laser system employed. Significant differences between the three devices were found for penetration depth in silicon and interaction.
Conclusions: Further investigations to ascertain the ablation threshold and fragmentation rate can be based on these findings. Intraoperative assessment of the lithotripsy results should take technical aspects of the laser equipment, stone consistency, and the surgeon's experience into consideration.