Staff Reports
Fullerton – Join us at St. Jude Medical Center for a FREE class on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of kidney stones on March 20 at 6:30 pm. Eric Tygenhof M.D. a board certified urologist will be discussing steps you can take to prevent kidney stones and the latest treatment options available. Please RSVP by calling (877)459-3627 or visit stjudemedicalcenter.org/healthclasses
While kidney stones have long been considered one of the most painful conditions, they are quickly also becoming one of the most common. One in 10 Americans will develop these solid concentrations of minerals in the kidneys—a number that continues to rise, especially among women and children.
Fortunately, advances in diagnosis, treatment and prevention are more than keeping pace, all of which can be found at the newly created St. Jude Kidney Stone Center.
Kidney stones are small “pebbles” of salt and minerals that build up in the urine and can range in size from a small grain to a golf ball. Urine normally contains chemicals that prevent these hard mineral deposits from forming and most remain small enough to travel through the urinary tract unnoticed. But if they continue to grow, the result can be an excruciatingly painful blockage in the urinary tract, the ureter (the tube that connects the kidney to the bladder), or in the kidney itself.
Medications can help speed the passage of smaller stones while high-energy sound waves or lasers are used to safely and painlessly break apart larger stones. Although most kidney stones are treated non-surgically or minimally-invasively at the Kidney Stone Center—often as a simple outpatient procedure—the center also brings a unique expertise to complex cases, including robotic-assisted stone removal and reconstruction.
Severe back or abdominal pain, the hallmark symptom of stone disease, accounts for over one million emergency room visits by patients in the U.S. each year. Other symptoms can include blood in the urine; nausea or vomiting; cloudy, foul-smelling urine; and infection, often causing fever, chills and weakness.
The St. Jude Kidney Stone Center can be reached at (714) 992-3000 ext. 2055.