The CIC Health Group has strengthened its technology park by acquiring an extracorporeal shock wave lithotripter at the CIC Riviera clinic. Some fifteen urologists in the Riviera, Chablais, Pays d'Enhaut, Valais Romand, Gruyère and Veveyse Fribourg regions now offer a complete range of services to patients suffering from kidney stones.
Concerning the type of treatment proposed by your urologist, in the case of kidney or urinary stones, various parameters such as the size of the stones, their location, their chemical composition, possible antecedents and the anatomical characteristics of your body are taken into account.
What are the advantages of treatment with the lithotripter?
Extracorporeal lithotripsy is a technique that makes it possible to treat most calculi and guarantee patients the best possible comfort by acting externally, therefore without surgical intervention to pulverize the calculi. The lithotripter sends shock waves through the body while focusing on the stone. These waves fragment the stones into small pieces that are then eliminated through the urinary tract. This procedure requires a simple sedation and a hospital stay of only a few hours.
Even if this technique gives high success rates (up to more than 90%), with most of the time only one treatment session, depending on the size of the stone, it is nevertheless necessary to repeat the treatment sometimes, or even to resort to another more invasive technique such as ureteroscopy or flexible renoscopy.
Did you know?Before the first lithotripsy (disintegration of kidney stones) was performed on humans in 1980, patients had no choice but to undergo open surgery. Today, more than 500,000 patients worldwide are treated with ESWL every year. This treatment is a simple way to destroy appropriately sized stones. |
Factors responsible for kidney stone formation
The following factors can alter the balance of substances in the urine and are in fact often responsible for kidney and urinary stones:
◾Consommation insufficient water, which can lead to the aggregation of salts and minerals into small stones.
◾Alimentation rich in protein or sodium
◾Infections frequent urination
◾Syndrome metabolic, obesity, diabetes and gout
◾Dérèglement of the parathyroid glands (hyperparathyroidism)
◾Chirurgie of the intestine, gastric bypass and chronic intestinal disease (Crohn's disease)
Summary Diagram
