Dr. Elijah Mobley is a general surgeon who treats patients in the Los Angeles County area. Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy may sound like some horrible disease – it translates to a minimally invasive removal of kidney stones. Now, we are not suggesting that kidney stones should be taken lightly; they can be very painful, can block urine excretion, and can cause an infection.
Other common symptoms of kidney stones include the following: nausea, vomiting, painful urination, blood in the urine, fever, and cold chills. Men are more susceptible to kidney stones than women are, and men also tend to require surgical intervention more often.
Mini-Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy
This surgical procedure, involving the use of a miniature nephroscope if the kidney stone (calculi) is 0.4 to 1 inch in size, is less invasive than the standard Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy. The miniature nephroscope is usually 99% effective in removing the kidney stone. The surgical procedure is shorter than the traditional percutaneous nephrolithotomy, lasting about one and a half hours. There are also fewer surgical complications and the recovery time is much quicker.
Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy
A percutaneous nephrolithotomy surgical procedure is performed under general anesthesia and takes between three to four hours to complete. When the patient is asleep, Dr. Elijah Mobley then makes an incision roughly 0.5 inches long on the patient’s lower backside just above where the affected kidney is located.
Then, the general surgeon inserts the nephroscope, a surgical instrument that has a fiber optic light and two channels that allow the general surgeon to view the inside of the kidney and to irrigate the affected area. Large stones are broken into small pieces and removed with a surgical device that has a small basket on the end that grasps the stones and removes them from the kidney.
Dr. Elijah Mobley then inserts a catheter to assist in draining the urinary tract system and bladder. The general surgeon will then place a nephrostomy tube in the incision to transport the urine from the kidney into a bag. After 24 hours of removing the catheter, the nephrostomy tube is also usually removed. However, it may need to stay in for a few days after the patient is discharged and can then be removed in office at the follow-up visit.
