The present invention discloses an extracorporeal shock wave lithotripter and a charging and discharging circuit for an extracorporeal shock wave lithotripter, wherein a shock wave generation apparatus of the extracorporeal shock wave lithotripter comprises a charging circuit (1) and a discharging circuit (2), the charging circuit (1) being formed by a resistor (11, 31) and a capacitor (12, 32), and the discharging circuit (2) being formed by the capacitor (12, 32), a high-voltage switch (13, 33) and a shock wave source apparatus (14, 34). The capacitance of the capacitor is 1.5µF ∼ 2.5µF, the pressure peak value of the focus of shock waves generated by discharging to the shock wave source apparatus (14, 34) by the capacitor (12, 32) is 6Mpa ∼ 20MPa, a positive pressure period of the bottom pulse width is 3µs and a negative pressure period is 5µs. By means of the extracorporeal shock wave lithotripter of the present invention, the bottom pulse width of the generated shock waves is wide, the pressure thereof is relatively smooth, and the pressure peak value of the focus of shock waves is low, and meanwhile, by breaking calculus through stress concentration, side effects on a human body are reduced.
