- Home
- Medical news & Guidelines
- Anesthesiology
- Cardiology and CTVS
- Critical Care
- Dentistry
- Dermatology
- Diabetes and Endocrinology
- ENT
- Gastroenterology
- Medicine
- Nephrology
- Neurology
- Obstretics-Gynaecology
- Oncology
- Ophthalmology
- Orthopaedics
- Pediatrics-Neonatology
- Psychiatry
- Pulmonology
- Radiology
- Surgery
- Urology
- Laboratory Medicine
- Diet
- Nursing
- Paramedical
- Physiotherapy
- Health news
- Fact Check
- Bone Health Fact Check
- Brain Health Fact Check
- Cancer Related Fact Check
- Child Care Fact Check
- Dental and oral health fact check
- Diabetes and metabolic health fact check
- Diet and Nutrition Fact Check
- Eye and ENT Care Fact Check
- Fitness fact check
- Gut health fact check
- Heart health fact check
- Kidney health fact check
- Medical education fact check
- Men's health fact check
- Respiratory fact check
- Skin and hair care fact check
- Vaccine and Immunization fact check
- Women's health fact check
- AYUSH
- State News
- Andaman and Nicobar Islands
- Andhra Pradesh
- Arunachal Pradesh
- Assam
- Bihar
- Chandigarh
- Chattisgarh
- Dadra and Nagar Haveli
- Daman and Diu
- Delhi
- Goa
- Gujarat
- Haryana
- Himachal Pradesh
- Jammu & Kashmir
- Jharkhand
- Karnataka
- Kerala
- Ladakh
- Lakshadweep
- Madhya Pradesh
- Maharashtra
- Manipur
- Meghalaya
- Mizoram
- Nagaland
- Odisha
- Puducherry
- Punjab
- Rajasthan
- Sikkim
- Tamil Nadu
- Telangana
- Tripura
- Uttar Pradesh
- Uttrakhand
- West Bengal
- Medical Education
- Industry
Pushing kidney-stone fragments reduces stones' recurrence, suggests study TAKE-HOME
Researchers at Medicine have found in a new study that patients who underwent the stone-moving ultrasound procedure had a 70% lower risk of such a recurrence. The Journal of Urology published the findings in August.In the instant study doctors used a handheld ultrasound device to nudge patients’ kidney-stone fragments.
As many as 50% of patients who have kidney stones removed surgically still have small fragments remaining in the kidneys afterward. Of those patients, about 25% find themselves returning for another operation within five years to remove the now-larger fragments.
“I think the main takeaways of this study are removing fragments reduces relapse and using a noninvasive, hand-held ultrasound device to help clear these kidney stone fragments,” said UW Medicine urologist Dr. Jonathan Harper, the study’s senior author.
The multisite, randomized and controlled trial was conducted from May 2015 to April 2024. Almost all of the 82 participants were from the UW Medicine or the VA Puget Sound health systems. All had stone fragments that had persisted in their kidneys for months, and their ureters were free of stones and fragments.
In the study, 40 underwent ultrasound treatment to encourage fragments to clear from the kidneys, while 42 control-group members received no such treatment.
With patients awake in a clinic office setting, doctors used a wand that generated ultrasonic pulses through the skin to move the fragments closer to the ureter, where they could be naturally expelled, sometimes with the next urination, Harper noted.
Harper and his co-lead author on the paper, urologist Dr. Mathew Sorensen, have worked on this technology and treatment for 15 years. They also use this technology, called burst wave lithotripsy, to blast larger stones into smaller pieces; those successes were published in 2022.
The pushing and breaking technologies are used with the same ultrasound platform.
Harper expressed hope that both clinical uses of the technology would become commonplace. A company, SonoMotion, is commercializing the technology, which was developed at the University of Washington, he added.
“I see a lot of potential in this It could become as common as getting your teeth cleaned. If you have a couple of small stones which could cause future problems, you make an office appointment and in 30 minutes you’re done.
“This could really revolutionize kidney stone treatment,” Harper said.
Reference:
Mathew D. Sorensen, Barbrina Dunmire, Jeff Thiel, Bryan W. Cunitz, Barbara H. Burke, Branda J. Levchak, Christina Popchoi, Arturo E. Holmes, John C. Kucewicz, M. Kennedy Hall, Manjiri Dighe, Jessica C. Dai, Fionnuala C. Cormack, Ziyue Liu, Michael R. Bailey, Randomized Controlled Trial of Ultrasonic Propulsion–Facilitated Clearance of Residual Kidney Stone Fragments vs Observation, The Journal of Urology, https://doi.org/10.1097/JU.0000000000004186.
Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751