Dr. Prabhudev M Salanki, a consultant urologist at Bengaluru's Mallige Hospital, is an expert in treating kidney stones and conditions that are related to them. Dr. Salanki discusses the formation of kidney stones and the significance of being aware of their symptoms because they are more likely to manifest during the summer. This topic gains even more significance as the nation endures one of the worst heatwaves in recent times.
Renal or kidney stones are a very common issue, particularly in hot climates. Kidney stones tend to occur more frequently in men than in women. It can be found either in the kidney, ureter, or bladder. In many cases, kidney stones persist with no symptoms. However, symptoms like bilateral colicky pain (on both sides of the abdomen), nausea, vomiting, etc, can occur when the stone is dislodged or moves through the ureter.
With an increase in stone size, there are significantly fewer chances of kidney stones passing through urine either naturally or with the assistance of medications. According to Dr. Salanki, “90% of stones smaller than 4 mm have a good chance of passing through urine. Stones between 4.1 and 6mm have a 60% chance of passing through urine, while anything larger has less than 10% chance.” The likelihood of requiring surgical intervention to remove the stone rises as the stone's size does.
Arjun (real name changed), a 25-year-old engineer, had no idea that a kidney stone could cause such excruciating pain until he had to be rushed into the emergency room. He had a fever and excruciating, sharp pain on his left side. Dr. Salanki, an expert urologist, immediately suspected kidney stones just seeing his symptoms. Dr. Salanki prescribed a CT scan, the gold standard for finding kidney stones, to support his diagnosis. An 8mm stone with hydronephrosis was found on the CT scan. " Hydronephrosis is a condition where the kidney gets swollen due to excessive urine that is not drained from the kidney. This usually happens when there is a blockage of urine flow causing back pressure effect,” says Dr. Salanki.
Dr. Salanki immediately jumped into action. “We performed a ureteroscopy (URS) under general anesthesia during which the stone was powdered using a laser. We also had to place a stent to ensure that urine could flow freely from the kidney to the bladder,” says Dr. Salanki. Depending on the size and location of the stone different methods must be used to remove the kidney stone. Other methods include URS with laser lithotripsy, flexible URS with laser lithotripsy, and percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL). Arjun was discharged the very next day and he could get back to his normal life immediately.
Although the likelihood of kidney stones returning is typically very high, Arjun is happy to report that he has not experienced one in the past two years. He believes that by following the doctor's advice, he was able to avoid experiencing another episode, so he is thankful to Dr. Salanki for pulling off this miracle. An extremely content Arjun claims, "The only time I had to be in the doctor's office was to have the stent removed two weeks after the initial procedure."
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Dr. Prabhudev Salanki
