Description
Symptoms
Kidney stones are usually undetected during formation. As the stone moves into the urinary tract they are often accompanied by the following symptoms:
- Renal colic
- Frequent, burning or slow urination
- Blood in the urine
- Fever, nausea and/or vomiting
Patient Selection
Contraindications to ESWL include:
- Pregnancy
- Coagulation abnormalities as indicated by abnormal prothrombin time (PT), partial thromboplastin time (PTT), or bleeding time; patients on anticoagulants
- Cysts, arterial aneurysms, bodies of vertebrae, large bony areas, arterial calcification or hemangioma in the shockwave path
- Obstruction of urinary tract distal to the stone
- Anatomic anomalies preventing adequate positioning
- Stones which cannot be clearly located and localized on the imaging system of the lithotripter
