Kidney Stone Surgery

Most kidney stones can be treated by methods other than kidney stone surgery.  In about 85% of cases one of the low cost and effective home remedies for kidney stones will relieve the pain within hours and clear up the problem in a day or so.

However, if the stone is of a rare type or so large it will not respond to treatment a medical procedure is the preferred course.

Fortunately, it is not always necessary to reach for the scalpel -- a procedure which is a last resort, as any cut into the kidney, which is a vital and delicate organ, reduces its efficacy by about 20%.

An increasingly common procedure to avoid kidney stone surgery is Lithrotripsy or -- to give it its full name -- Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithrotripsy (ESWL). This uses high energy shock waves focused at the exact location of the stone, via a bag of water, which has been placed in direct contact with the patient's body. Although a sensation of pressure is felt by the semi-anesthetized patient there is no pain.

During a procedure, up to 3000 lithrotripsy shock waves vibrate the stone so that it shatters into fragments, which can then be passed out of the body.

However, the elimination process can extend over a period as long as three months and can be quite painful, as the shards of shattered stones can be very sharp and dig into the ureter -- the tube connecting the kidney with the bladder. They can also cause similar problems in the urethra, which is the tube connecting the bladder with the outside of the body. Therefore it is often helpful to use one of the home remedies for kidney stones to help minimize the sharpness of the shards and help them pass out of the body in the minimum of time and with the least amount of pain.

Kidney Stone Surgery

Unfortunately, the most common type of stone is most difficult to break up with the shockwave Lithrotripsy method, due to its extreme hardness. Fortunately, this is the type that responds well to home treatment for kidney stones.

Patients can return to a normal routine shortly after a few days, using medication to reduce the pain and nausea caused by passing the stone fragments.

As a last resort, kidney stone open surgery, involving cutting into the kidney will be considered. This is not a step entered into lightly and is resorted to in less than 5 percent of the kidney stone cases. During surgery the doctor actually opens up the kidney and physically takes out the offending stones. The surgery scar can be about 6 inches (15 cm) long. Recovery from kidney stone open surgery takes four to six weeks.

An alternative, slightly less invasive procedure than kidney stone open surgery is now being used in some cases, using keyhole surgery to enter the kidney through a small hole in the back. Then a new technique, called lithoclast, is used which uses air pressure to vibrate and break up the kidney stone. The fragments are then removed with forceps or flushed with water and then removed by suction. Although this involves an incursion into the kidney, it does avoid the painful weeks experienced with the lithrotripsy, whereby the fragments of shattered stone have to pass through the ureter.

Because of the undesirability of kidney stone surgery, some alternative surgical procedures have been devised, which involve passing instruments (ureteroscopy) up the urethra, through the bladder and into the ureter in order to reach the stone, without cutting into the kidney. The ureteroscopy has a tiny grabber at the end which can clasp the stone and pull it out.

Another method uses a laser threaded through the urethra and through the bladder and into the ureter which then vaporizes the stone still inside the ureter. This sometimes presents similar problems with the elimination of the fragments as does the shockwave Lithrotripsy method.

Always consider if you could avoid hospital procedures entirely by trying one of the guaranteed home remedies for kidney stones. If that fails, always be sure you are only committing yourself to kidney stone surgery after all other options have been carefully considered and rejected for a good reason.

Now click here to get rid of YOUR kidney stone just like Juan did ...

MY STONE CAME OUT... I PREVIOUSLY PAID $60 FOR SOMETHING THAT DID NOTHING "my kidney stone (5mm) came out. Thanks. I previously paid $60 for another product named Uriflow and it did nothing for me except make me $60 poorer."

Juan Contreras California USA Comment published here with the author's permission Average success rate is 80%, because the type and size of stones this remedy is most effective on occur on a statistical average of 80%.

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