What are kidney stones and how do they develop? Kidney stones are small pieces of hardened material that form in the kidney. The main cause of kidney stones is a high level of uric acid in the body. Uric acid is a byproduct of metabolism and protein breakdown, which can build up in the body when it’s not being properly eliminated.
When uric acid levels get too high, crystals can form in the urinary tract and get carried along with urine. Kidney stones may also result from other factors, such as dehydration or infection. They are more common in people who have diabetes or a family history of them. When there’s an existing problem like this, your risk of developing kidney stones increases.
Dehydration can be a cause of kidney stones. It occurs when your body lacks enough fluids to maintain optimal health. It may result from dieting or illness that causes vomiting or excessive urination. Dieting protein-rich foods like meat, fish, eggs, and cheese can trigger increased urination if you don’t drink enough water with them.
Kidney stones are more common in men than women, and their prevalence increases as people age. In most cases, kidney stones are not dangerous and do not require treatment.
However, some people experience intense pain resulting from kidney stones. When you are experiencing pain from kidney stones, they will require treatment to avoid further complications. Laser Lithotripsy is a surgical procedure that uses laser light to break up the stones so they can be easily passed through urine. Here’s an overview of what you should know about this procedure and how it can help.
What is Laser Lithotripsy?
It’s one of the most effective treatments for kidney stones and significantly reduces their recurrence rate. Let us take a closer look at how laser lithotripsy works and what it can do for you if you suffer from kidney stones.
Laser lithotripsy is a procedure that uses a laser to break up kidney stones. The stones are located and then the laser is passed through the ureter, bladder, and urethra to break them up into smaller fragments that can be passed in urine without discomfort.
It is often used in cases where other stone-breaking procedures such as shock wave lithotripsy (SWL) are not effective. Laser lithotripsy can be used to treat stones in any area of the urinary tract and remove them completely.
It is often used as a secondary treatment after shock wave lithotripsy fails to fully break up a patient’s stones. Laser lithotripsy works by focusing a series of laser beams on a stone’s surface so that it shatters into smaller pieces that can be easily passed through urine.
How Does Laser Lithotripsy Work and Who Can Benefit From This Procedure?
The procedure is carried out under general or local anesthesia and involves a urologist inserting a thin tube into the ureter that passes close to the stone. The tube then approaches the kidney stones and uses a laser to break them up. At this point, the laser is applied to the stone’s surface. The stone shatters into smaller pieces that can then be easily passed through urine, effectively solving the problem.
Laser lithotripsy is most effective for patients who have recently formed kidney stones, but it can also be used for patients with struvite or cystine stones.
The procedure is generally performed in an operating room and under general anesthesia. If you are suffering from kidney stones, you may be a suitable candidate for laser lithotripsy. Laser lithotripsy can be used to treat stones in any area of the urinary tract.
Anyone who has been suffering from kidney stones can benefit from a procedure like laser lithotripsy. Even though it is a minimally invasive procedure, it still requires surgical expertise which is something that often makes people nervous.
While it’s natural to be nervous about practically any kind of surgery, it is much better to have a laser lithotripsy done than to persist with untreated kidney stones. When left untreated, kidney stones will continue to cause pain and discomfort. The sooner you see a urologist and have the procedure done, the sooner you can get back to enjoying life without kidney stones and the pain they cause.
Side Effects of Laser Lithotripsy, What to Expect
Like all surgical procedures, laser lithotripsy can produce some side effects. However, these are typically mild and include pain, bleeding, urine retention, and infection.
A common complication associated with laser lithotripsy is stone recurrence. In some cases, the procedure does not fully break up the stones, leaving fragments that can later cause more complications. The main risks of laser lithotripsy include injury to nearby tissues, bleeding, infection, and damage to nearby organs.
The key to minimizing potential side effects is to have the procedure done by a highly experienced urologist. Experienced urologists are less likely to make mistakes when performing surgical procedures like a laser lithotripsy.
Need a Laser Lithotripsy? Call Z Urology and Make an Appointment!
As a somewhat minimally invasive procedure laser lithotripsy is a popular method for removing kidney stones. While many people have faith in the procedure itself, the hard part is finding the right urologist to have it done.
While minimally invasive, any procedure is a serious one which is why it is important that you trust the urologist that will perform the surgery.
If you live in South Florida and you need your kidney stones removed via laser lithotripsy, you’ll want to have the procedure done at Z Urology. The people of South Florida trust the team at Z Urology with everything from fertility treatment to laser lithotripsies and more.
When you schedule an appointment with Z Urology, we’ll assess your case and see if laser lithotripsy would be the best treatment option for you. It’s important that you feel comfortable and understand why certain treatment options are being recommended over others.
Have questions? Give us a call and make Z Urology ask about a consultation for a laser lithotripsy today!
If you have been struggling with kidney stones, you may need laser lithotripsy. Kidney stones can be extremely painful and when they’re of substantial size, it might not be possible to remove them via the urinary tract. When dealing with large kidney stones, many urologists recommend laser lithotripsy. Here’s what you need to know about the procedure and what to expect.
What Are the Advantages of Laser Lithotripsy?
There are several key advantages associated with laser lithotripsy compared to other forms of treatment. For example, laser lithotripsy can be more effective than certain medications designed to treat kidney stones.
When a patient is suffering from intense pain as a result of their kidney stones and their medication isn’t helping much, lithotripsy may be in order. Small kidney stones typically pass through your system on their own, but larger ones must be removed or dissolved.
How Does it Work?
Laser lithotripsy is non-invasive, meaning the skin is never pierced or punctured in any way. As opposed to surgical removal, lithotripsy uses a combination of a laser and shockwaves to gradually break down the kidney stones.
During the procedure, your urologist will utilize a ureteroscope to locate your kidney stones. From there, they will use the laser to dissolve large kidney stones into small individual pieces. If any large kidney stones remain, you will need additional treatment.
Tired of Painful Kidney Stones? Schedule a Lithotripsy with Z Urology!
The team at Z Urology is highly experienced, as we have performed this procedure countless times with great success. Some kidney stones can grow to the size of a golf ball which makes them incredibly painful. That pain can easily be relieved by our team. Make an appointment today!
You can visit our website directly and schedule an appointment at your convenience or call us at 954-714-8200!
Have you had stones? Do you know how painful stones can be? For many, it is just awful, and it becomes an emergency situation. Stone disease is one of the most painful urological disorders. More than a million kidney stone cases are diagnosed each year, with an estimated one out of ten people expected to suffer from a kidney stone at some time in their life.
This is where Z Urology in South Florida comes in to save the day. Let our team diagnose and treat the problem. There are three ways we tackle kidney / bladder stones. But first, what exactly are kidney stones?
Kidney stones are solid pieces that form when substances normally found in the urine, such as minerals and acid salts, become concentrated and crystallize. A stone ranges in size from a grain of sand to as large as a golf ball. It may remain in the kidneys or travel down the urinary tract into the ureter. Small stones typically pass on their own, causing little or no pain. However, larger stones get stuck along the tract and block the flow of urine, resulting in intense pain, bleeding, or both.
Anyone can develop kidney stones, but those that are MORE LIKELY include:
Men
Overweight individuals
Those with a family or personal history of kidney stones
Dehydrated individuals
People who maintain diets high in protein, sodium, or sugar
Individuals with certain bowel conditions, such as chronic diarrhea and Crohn’s disease
Gastric bypass surgery recipients
So how does Z Urology get rid of kidney stones? There are three ways of treatment. All involve some form of lithotripsy. If you are not sure what that is, let’s read further.
What is a Lithotripsy
Lithotripsy is a medical procedure involved in removing kidney / bladder stones through the use of different processes. Through the lithotripsy procedure, these stones are broken down through the use of laser or shock waves.
Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL)
This is the most common form of removing a kidney or bladder stone. The procedure involves using shockwaves that come from outside of the body. Z Urology will target the area where the stone is and begin breaking it into smaller pieces. This is a non-invasive procedure. Once the stones have been broken down into a “dust,” they may travel through the urinary tract without much issue. Sometimes the stones may still be slightly too large and further treatment may be required.
Laser Lithotripsy
Laser Lithotripsy is a minimally invasive form of kidney/bladder stone removal. This procedure involves the use of a ureteroscope. This acts as a camera for your urologist. He uses this camera to navigate through the urinary tract into the ureter or kidney. Once inside, he will locate the stone. If necessary, a stent will then be placed within the ureter to protect it as the stones pass through. Once the stones have completely passed, your urologist will remove the stent. This usually takes a few days to a couple of weeks for the process.
Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy
Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy is another form of lithotripsy. This procedure is required when the stones are just too large for other procedures, there were remaining stones after an extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, or if the kidney stones are damaging the area where they are present.
If you are in need of a urologist in South Florida that can help you deal with kidney / bladder stone pains or concerns, then contact Z Urology for a team that is dedicated to delivering world-class expertise in urology, along with an unwavering commitment to their patients. Our three locations to choose from are located in Fort Lauderdale, Coral Springs and Pompano Beach.
You can go to the website directly and set up an appointment or you can call 954-714-8200. Either way, you contact, you will be setting up to see the leading urologist office in all of South Florida. With an extremely talented and professional staff of doctors and more, you are in truly good hands with the doctors and nurses at Z Urology. Z Urology is your leader in urological care. Go ahead and call now!
Lithotripsy is a medical procedure involved in removing kidney / bladder stones. There are multiple different kinds of lithotripsy. Your main three types are going to be Laser Lithotripsy, Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy or Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy. All of these methods are doctor-certified procedures that will return you to your normal life without kidney stones. The goal of most lithotripsy procedures, is to break down the kidney stones to a small enough level to either have them removed or small enough to pass down through the urinary tract and exit the body.
What are Kidney Stones?
Kidney stones are solid pieces of material that form when substances normally found in the urine, such as minerals and acid salts, become concentrated and crystallized. Kidney stones may range in size from being small enough to just normally pass through the urinary tract or large enough to about the size of the golf ball. If a stone hasn’t progressed to abnormal sizes, then it will be perfectly fine in travelling through the ureter and out of the body. However, if these stones become larger, they may cause intense and serious pain as well as blood within the urine.
Types of Lithotripsy
As was stated earlier, there are 3 main types of lithotripsy; Laser Lithotripsy, Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy and Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy. Here we’ll go into a bit about each procedure.
Laser Lithotripsy – Removal of kidney stones by way of a ureteroscope. This device possesses a camera and a tube for a specific fiber. The fiber releases a laser which then breaks down the kidney stone(s). They may either be removed with the ureteroscope or released through urine.
Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy – Removal of kidney stones by use of shock waves from outside of the body. These shock waves will specifically target with the kidney stones. Once they are broken down, they will then pass through the urinary tract.
Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy– Procedure for kidney stones too large for the prior two options. This is conducted by making incisions through the lower back. A nephroscope, similar to a ureteroscope, is placed through the incisions to either remove the kidney stones entirely or break them down. If the stones are first broken down, then this procedure is referred to as a Percutaneous Nephrolithotripsy.
kidney stones and how do they develop? Kidney stones are small pieces of hardened material that form in the kidney. The main cause of kidney stones is a high level of uric acid in the body. Uric acid is a byproduct of metabolism and protein breakdown, which can build up in the body when it’s not being properly eliminated. 
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