What are the side effects of laser lithotripsy for kidney stones?

Kidney stones are a disease that troubles many people and can cause great pain. There are many ways to treat kidney stones, including medication, surgery, and laser lithotripsy. When many people choose laser lithotripsy for treatment, they are worried that this treatment method will have sequelae and cause harm to the body. In fact, this worry is unnecessary because laser lithotripsy has no side effects.

What are the side effects of laser lithotripsy?

Although laser lithotripsy for kidney stones has no side effects, it is recommended that patients should not eat spicy food casually and should not develop bad habits such as staying up late and not resting after the procedure. Patients should not stop drinking water, they need to drink more water.

Laser lithotripsy principle

Laser lithotripsy is actually a minimally invasive surgery and an internal lithotripsy technology. Its basic feature is to send the laser emission source into the location of the stone in the body and crush the stone through the powerful laser energy. There are many types of lasers, and the most widely used in the treatment of urological stones is the tantalum laser. The laser has a wavelength of 2.1μm and is a pulsed laser. The energy generated can vaporize the water between the end of the optical fiber and the stone, forming tiny bubbles, and transmit the energy to the stone, crushing it into powder. At the same time, water absorbs a lot of energy, reducing damage to surrounding tissues. In addition, the penetration depth of laser into human tissue is very shallow, only 0.4mm. Therefore, using laser lithotripsy can minimize damage to surrounding tissues and is extremely safe.

What should I pay attention to after laser lithotripsy?

1. The first urine after lithotripsy may be dark brown. This is due to a small amount of bleeding caused by the friction of the ureteral mucosa when the crushed stone particles are discharged from the urethra. There is no need to be nervous. The color gradually fades by the second and third time, and then returns to normal. If hematuria persists, you should go to the hospital for a follow-up visit.

2. If you develop a fever after lithotripsy and have symptoms such as frequent urination, urgency, and pain when urinating, you should use antibiotics for anti-infection treatment under the guidance of a doctor.

3. Low back pain occurs after lithotripsy. This is caused by small stones stimulating the ureter and causing smooth muscle spasm during urination. It will disappear on its own. If the pain is severe, analgesics and antispasmodics can be used appropriately, such as atropine, 654-2, etc.

4. To prevent recurrence, you should eat less spinach, celery, apples, beans, and animal offal such as liver, intestines, and tripe.