For many centers, laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) has become the treatment of choice in cholecystolithiasis. Sometimes, however, bile stones with a diameter of 1.5 cm and above can only be removed if the periumbilical incision is enlarged or the stone is crushed with a forceps intraoperatively. To keep the incision as small as possible, to be able to work with the smallest available trocars, and to shorten the operative procedure, patients in our center with stones larger than 1.5 cm are submitted to preoperative extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL). LC is performed the same or the next day. We have used this procedure in eight patients, and LC could be performed in all cases without enlargement of the periumbilical incision. Macromorphological changes of the gallbladder following ESWL, such as hematoma and edema, were not seen.