ADVANTAGES OF LASER ESWL KIDNEY STONE TREATMENT
- Doesn’t need open surgery.
- Treatment of choice in malrotated kidney and horse shoe kidneys having difficulty to access stone.
- Can manage stones from any location in ureter or kidney with 99% success rate.
- Can treat stones up to 3 cm.
- One day of hospital stay only.
- Can resume normal duties with in 4 days.
- Best option in bleeding diathesis.
- Best option for hard stones.
- Best option for stones in very dependent lower calyx. Best option for ESWL failed cases.
- Best option for post PCNL residual stones.
LASER SURGERY FOR KIDNEY STONE
Laser surgery for kidney stone was invented in 1980s at Wellman Center for Photomedicine. This is not a real surgery as the kidney stones are removed through laser energy. Candela Corporation got the license for the technology and developed the pioneer commercial laser lithotripsy system.
LASER ESWL KIDNEY STONE TREATMENT
Laser ESWL kidney stone treatment has high efficiency but the number of sittings with a doctor actually depends upon the size of the stones. The success rate of laser surgery for kidney stone for stones up to 15mm (0.6in) is as high as 80%. The range of successful cases is 50-80%. The surgeon may insert a stent (plastic tube) to facilitate the passing of the stone fragments to the bladder.
Ureteroscopy is a commonly used treatment involving the use of an instrument called ureteroscope (a fibre-optic and small sized instrument). The best part with this treatment is that there are no incisions caused to the patient who is given general anesthesia for the surgery. The stones can be removed by either grasping them if small sized or firstly breaking them into small pieces and then performing the laser surgery kidney stones with flexible or rigid ureteroscope. There remains a risk of heavy blood loss and infection during kidney stone treatment with laser or ureteroscopy.
You should think of laser surgery kidney stones if the following symptoms of kidney stones persist. The symptoms will be clearly identifiable when the stones are large enough to block the passage of urine through the urinary bladder. The commonly complained symptoms include pain centered in the flank and may move toward the front abdomen or to the groin area. In case of acute situation the patient can suffer from sensations of nausea and actual vomiting. Hematuria can also surface in acute cases. If a person is diabetic then he can also suffer from fever due to inability to pass infected urine.
WHEN DO THE CHANCES OF STONE FORMATION DEVELOP?
There is high risk of stone formation if:
- One does not consume sufficient fluids per day.
- If one consumes poor diet or diet rich in protein content leading to high acid content in the body.
- Diet rich in salt content is another risk factor.
- When the disease onsets, high consumption of oxalate-rich foods pose further risk to the patient. Examples of such food are chocolates, leafy green vegetables, nuts, caffeine.
- Obesity
- Hereditary factors
- Chronic diarrhoea
- Crohn’s disease
- Gastric bypass surgery
- High stress levels