Treatment Of Kidney Stones

Generally, small kidney stones would pass through urine without any treatment. Taking lot of fluids and pain control medication is enough to move such small stones out of the body. However, if the pain is uncontrollable with the pills, then kidney stones treatments are essential. There are many types of treatments available to remove kidney stones. The doctor decides the treatment after analyzing the age, family history and physical condition of the patient. Some of the kidney stones treatments are discussed below:

The doctor would prescribe some medicines to help the body to pass out kidney stones. Calcium channel blockers and alpha-blockers can help move out kidney stones quickly. If the stones block out the urinary tract and cause severe pain, then the doctor would suggest any of the medical or surgical kidney stones treatments.

Extracorporeal Shock wave Lithotripsy: This type of kidney stones treatment uses shock waves that enters the patient’s body easily and breaks the kidney stones into smaller pieces so that they can travel the urinary tract easily. This treatment never injures the body. However, the doctor gives some sedative measures like anesthesia. If the stones are somewhat large then the doctor uses a tube with a mesh called stent to keep the urethra open. This helps in passing the stones without blocking the urethra. This treatment requires just one hour. This treatment is suitable when the stone size is between 4 mm to 2.5 cm. Though it does not cause any pain, pregnant woman, person suffering from kidney infections, bleeding disorders etc are not advised to get this treatment.

Percutaneous nephrolithotomy: This method involves a treatment of inserting a small telescope into the kidney through a cut in the patient’s back. Then the surgeon removes the small stones. If the stone is large, then the surgeon breaks it down into pieces and then removes it. This method is used when the stone is large and not able to be removed by extracorporeal shock wave treatment.

Ureteroscopy: Ureteroscopy is yet another effective kidney stones treatment. Here the surgeon inserts a thin telescope called ureteroscope into the urethra. However, he does not make any incision in the body for inserting the telescope. This method helps him to identify the location of the kidney stone. Then the surgeon uses small forceps to remove the kidney stones. It is easy to remove smaller stones. However, for larger stones, the surgeon needs to break down to pieces first.

Breaking down the larger stones is a difficult process. There are several instruments available to break the stone into small pieces. In fact, most surgeons prefer laser in this process. However, Uteroscopy is not possible if the person had already had surgery in abdomen or pelvis. Any injury in urethra may also prevent the surgeon to give this treatment. Ureteroscopy is the best kidney stones treatment method. It proves to be successful for more than 95% of people. The treatment does not require long hours. The patient can return home the next day itself.

Open surgery: The doctor would suggest open surgery treatment to remove kidney only if not all the other treatments prove successful. In this method, the surgeon cuts in the side of the patient’s belly to reach the kidney and then the stone is removed through the cut. The patient requires anesthesia in order to provide this treatment.