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Medical Therapy
Our comprehensive stone therapy program is the largest in Southern California. Our physicians are recognized experts in creating innovative, personalized medical treatments for various types of stone disease by enabling many patients with stones to be treated without major open surgery. Small stones may be managed with adequate hydration and pain control. Stones less than 3 mm have more than 80% passage rate within the first 2 weeks of presentation, without any surgical intervention. Some stones, may also be dissolved by taking medications that can alter larger stones, however surgical intervention may be required.
Depending on the stone composition and size, patients have several surgical options.
Percutaneous Approach
This approach involves accessing the kidney through the back, going through the skin using a small needle and placing a tube directly into the kidney. After this is completed, we remove the stone burden through the tube in your back. This option is usually employed in cases with large complex stones, or multiple stones. USC urologists have world-leading expertise in advanced and complicated percutaneous surgery. We perform both routine and challenging cases not only for complicated stone disease (multiple stones, large stones, full staghorn stones), but also upper tract transitional cell cancer, and congenital anomalies such as uretero-pelvic junction obstruction, and ectopic kidney. Our minimally invasive and endourologic surgeons have more experience than any other team in the world in complex percutaneous surgery for surgical problems in a solitary kidney, as well as in simple and challenging pediatric applications.
Retrograde Intra-Renal Surgery and Ureteroscopy
In this approach, we go after the kidney by using a camera (a ureteroscope) and special instruments within the scope to remove the stone burden. This option does not employ external tubes and is usually performed as an outpatient surgery. Our physicians perform the entire range of retrograde ureteroscopic and intra-renal surgery cases for stone disease, obstruction and cancer in the upper urinary tracts. The advantages of this procedure compared to open surgery include quicker recovery time and elimination of prolonged pain.
Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy
Extracorporeal shock wave therapy is used by USC urologists for non-invasive kidney stone treatment. This technique uses shock waves to break up stones that are too large to pass. The stones are broken down into tiny pieces, which can then be spontaneously passed with the urination.
