Interview with Dr. Vijay Sharma, Urologist in India, on the Management of Kidney Stones | MediGence

Team MediGence: Hello everyone, today we have with us Dr. Vijay Sharma, a Senior Urologist from Sharda Hospital, India So sir today we are going to talk about Kidney Stones. When we talk about kidney stones, which category of individuals are at a greater risk of forming them.

Dr. Vijay Sharma: The patients who are having low water intake, less of calcium intake, taking high auxiliary food, taking caffeinated food, nicotine users, smokers, alcoholics. These are a few of the people who can develop kidney stones.

Team MediGence: What are the complications that can arise from having kidney stones?

Dr. Vijay Sharma: It may lead to end-stage renal disease, it may lead to pyelonephritis, infected hydronephrosis in the kidney if we don’t treat it.

Team MediGence: So can this go away naturally? A lot of patients ask whether kidney stones can be flushed out through urine. So are there any ways this can happen

Dr. Vijay Sharma: Yes, it depends on the size of the stones as well as the location of the stones. Size less than 5mm or 6mm, it can be tried in a conservative manner with high water intake. If the size is less than 1cm then I will not recommend it via conservative management.

Team MediGence: Over time there have now been a lot of treatment approaches that have come up like Laser Treatment, Laprascopic Treatment. So which is the best approach according to you?

Dr. Vijay Sharma: Again it will depend on the size of the stone. If the size of the stone if 1-1.5 cm, and is located in the kidney. Then we can opt for a shockwave treatment also called Shock Wave Lithotripsy. If the size of the stones is 2cm then we go for PCNL Treatment also called Percutaneous Nephrolithonomy. We can sometimes also use laser surgery or heat blast. It all depends on the size of the stone.

Team MediGence: So the size of the stone is the dependency on this. Now can these be treated separately? What about the recurrence rate for these stones?

Dr. Vijay Sharma:  As it commonly said in medical terms, once a stone formed always a stone formed. The recurrence rate of kidney stones is almost 50%. But we can avoid a few things so as to lower the recurrence rate of the same.

Team MediGence: Our audience would like to know what are the tips for renal health? What are the ways through which kidney stones can be stopped or eliminated?

Dr. Vijay Sharma: First of all we have to take 5-6 glasses of water per day. Calcium also has to be normal. There is a myth that if we avoid milk, then calcium would not be formed. We should be taking 1 glass of milk every day. High citrus food, one glass of lemon water, and avoid auxiliary food like cashew, chocolate, coffee, nicotine. Tea, And low sodium intake. These are some of the things which will help you to avoid kidney stones.

Team MediGence: Thank you, sir, for enlightening us on this topic. We hope to have many such informative sessions with you in the future.