118 patients suffering from a calculus in the lumbar ureter were treated from January, 1987 to January, 1990. The treatment of 91 patients combined an initial internal ureteral drainage, followed by extracorporeal lithotrity (ECL): 40 calculi were driven back into the kidney and 51 were treated within the ureter. 69 patients (76%) no longer have any calculus; 17 (19%) retain residual fragments smaller than or equal to 3 mm in the lower calyces. We therefore count 5 failures, including 3 in which a second-intention surgical ureterotomy was performed. The ascent of the probe failed in 9 cases at the beginning of the series (6 ureterotomies and 3 percutaneous nephrostomies + ECL). 11 patients were treated with probeless in situ ECL. The others were treated with ureteroscopy (4), percutaneous nephrostomy + ECL (1) and nephrectomy (2). There is not one single treatment for the calculi of the lumbar ureter, and they require associating several therapeutic procedures.