Kidney Stone Treatment

Lithotripsy is a clinical devise that is used in the treatment of liver stones, kidney stones and gallbladder stones. Doctors assume this devise to remove stones from kidney or gallbladder or liver of the patient who wants to have them removed. The method of medical treatment is scientifically known as Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL).

In the early 1980s Dornier Medizintechnik Gmb H developed lithotripsy in Germany. So it is also known as Dornier MedTech Systems GmbH. The introduction of the HM-3 lithotriptor in 1983 brought lithotripsy alive. Within a few years it caused an upheaval in the field of medical treatment. It gradually became a revolutionized means of treating urinary calculosis.

Procedure

Lithotripsy is an attempt to break up or melt the stone with least collateral damage to the kidney or liver. It entails the external application of a highly intense and focused acoustic pulse. The patient lies on in the apparatus’s bed and is rendered unconscious by giving him or her an anesthetic agent. An ultrasound imaging system or a fluoroscopic X-ray imaging system is used to locate the position of the stone and keep it focused. The treatment begins at the lowest level of equipment’s power maintaining an interval between pulses so that the patient can be accustomed to the loss of sensation.

Then, the power level and pulse frequency are gradually increased to break up the stone effectively. The treatment becomes more uncomfortable if the stone in the kidney is located near a bone. In this case, the shock waves mildly vibrate the bone and that may make the patient feel pain. Shearing forces result from a succession of shock waves and pulses. It also results in cavitation bubbles around the stone that break up the stone into delicate pieces. The fragments of the stone can easily pass through the cystic duct or the ureters.

Lithtropsy sometimes includes the use of a ureteral stent that is a flexible hollow tube. The stent removes obstruction from the path of the stone and makes it easy for the stone to pass out of the body.

The other methods of treating kidney stones are laser lithotripsy, extracorporeal lithotropsy, ureteroscopic and percutaneous nephrolithotomy.

The risk factors of lithtropsy

It cannot be surely said that lithtropsy is without risks. The cavitation bubbles and shock waves formed during the treatment procedure can lead to severe complications such as renal parenchymal, capillary damage or subcapsular hemorrahage. Even long-tern consequences like hypertension and renal failure may arise as after effects of lithtropsy.

Complications of lithtropsy

The cases in which lithtropsy is not performed