Stone disease intervention
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Kidney stones
Kidney stones can cause pain, infection and blockage of the kidney. Obstruction of the kidney in the presence of infection will rapidly cause irreversible kidney damage. Interventional techniques include placing a tube in the kidney (nephrostomy) to allow the urine to drain and removing the stones using a variety of instruments placed through the skin into the kidney. Large kidney stones are best dealt with by creating a tunnel into the kidney through a small skin incision and then passing an endoscope directly into the kidney, breaking the stone with special instruments and pulling the fragments out (percutaneous nephrolithotomy - PCNL).