Area: Urology
Lithotripsy is a procedure that uses shock waves to break up stones in the kidney, bladder, or ureter (tube that carries urine from your kidneys to your bladder). After the procedure, the tiny pieces of stones pass out of your body in your urine.
High-energy shock waves, guided by x-ray or ultrasound, will pass through your body until they hit the kidney stones. If you are awake, you may feel a tapping feeling when this starts. The waves break the stones into tiny pieces.
One of the most important feature of our Extracorporeal Shockwave Lithotripsy (ESWL) machine at FMC is that the stone could be localized by using both x-ray and ultra sound for radiolucent stones.
The lithotripsy procedure may last around 40 min.
Anesthesia is not needed in most of the cases. You may be given medication in order to reduce the pain during the procedure.
After the procedure, you’ll spend about one hour in recovery room before being sent home. You will feel the passage of small stones after the procedure.
The follow up will be 2 weeks after the procedure.