Extracorporeal Shockwave Lithotripsy
With this procedure, anesthesia is given in an operating room setting. After the patient is positioned, the ESWL pad is applied to the patient’s body. With the help of x-ray guidance, sound waves are focused onto the stone, which are used to pulverize the stone into small sand particles. The sand particles are then passed by the patient over the course of the next few days. This procedure takes about 1 hour, and patients will go home the same day. Patients undergoing ESWL will have some pain and discomfort in the area of the stone for a couple of days, and will generally be back to work and their usual activities within a few days.
While it is the least invasive of our treatment options, there are patients who will not respond as well to ESWL as others. As a result, some patients will require multiple treatments to definitively treat their stone burden. Dr. Berookhim will have an in depth conversation with you about the best possible treatment modality to treat your stone.
Why Men's Health Manhattan?
At Men’s Health Manhattan, we are proud to offer a comprehensive program for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of urinary kidney stones or stone disease. As you may know, symptomatic kidney stones can be very painful and lead to time lost from work and the need for significant medications to control the pain. Not all kidney stones are symptomatic and not all stones need surgical or procedural management. Among symptomatic kidney stones, the vast majority will pass on their own within a few days of onset of symptoms with the help of aggressive hydration, pain control and medication to potentially help pass the stone. .
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