Lithotomy was a common procedure in the past. It was developed in the 18th century and used well until the beginning of the 20th century. Important names in its historical development were Jean Zuléma Amussat (1796-1856), Auguste Nélaton (1807-1873), Henry Thompson(1820-1904) and William Cheselden (1688-1752). The later invented a technique for lateral vesical stone lithotomy in 1727, whereupon he was said to perform the operation in about one minute time (an important feat before Anesthesia).
Special Surgical instruments were designed for lithotomy, consisting of dilators of the canal, Forceps and tweezers, lithotomes (stone cutter) and cystotomes (bladder cutter), urethrotomes (for incisions of the urethra) and conductors, (grooved probes used as guides for stone extraction). The patient is placed in a special position in a lithotomy surgical table, called the Lithotomy position (which, curiously, retains this name until present for other unrelated medical procedures).
Transurethral lithotripsy, which was much simpler and with lower Morbidity, complication and mortality rates, was invented by French surgeon Jean Civiale (1792-1867) and largely substituted for surgical lithotomy, unless the crushing of calculi was difficult or impossible.