Kidney Stone Treatment

Overview

In this procedure, stones within the kidney are removed by making a small key hole in the back region. Then a tract from the skin into the kidney is established, through which rigid straight instruments are passed inside and the stone is broken into smaller pieces using ho;mium and removed. It can be used for stones of any size. The incision used for making these tracts is around 5 mm, and does not require stitches usually.
Hospitalization is usually required for 1 or 2 days and the patient can resume normal work in a weeks time. The only major risk of this operation is bleeding which is unpredictable and can occur in 1% of the patients requiring blood transfusion.

PCNL – Percutaneous nephrolithotomy

Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) is a procedure used to remove largerkidney stones  more than 2 cm. In this method, a small incision(key hole) is made in the back region and a direct tract to the kidney is created under xray visualisation. The stone is then broken up with holmium laser and removed through this tract. The incision used for making these tracts is around 5 mm.

Hospitalization is usually required for 1 or 2 days and the patient can resume normal work in a week’s time. The only major risk of this operation is bleeding which is unpredictable and can occur in 1% of the patients requiring blood transfusion.

Percutaneous nephrolithotomy is typically recommended in the following situations:

  • Large kidney stones are blocking more than one branch of the collecting system of the kidney (known as staghorn kidney stones)
  • Kidney stones are larger than 2 centimeters in diameter
  • Large stones in the upper ureter near the kidney