Innovative minimally invasive methods of radical treatment of kidney stones have been introduced in our country, from which two out of ten of our fellows suffer at some point in their lives.

“Lithiasis is the cause of a significant percentage of chronic pain, and since therapeutic efforts do not completely solve the problem, patients lose hope, give up, and in its progression, the condition can lead to irreversible kidney damage,” the urologist-director will characteristically tell us. Urological Clinic of Minimally Invasive Prostate and Lithiasis Panagiotis Vevelogiannis and offers us a new painless treatment method. “It’s about her Laser endoscopic lithotripsy (RIRS) which treats stones regardless of hardness and location in one session in a completely painless and effective way. Performed without incisions, using a minimal diameter camera that is inserted retrograde through the ureter, where with direct visual contact and excellent accuracy they are sublimated (transition from a solid to a gaseous state) stones even in the hitherto most inaccessible parts of the kidney, under the influence of minimal anesthesia, releasing the patient to his daily activities without postoperative pain.

And he adds: “Avoiding the crushing of the stone into fragments and their lowering, as in the older methods, protects the ureter from injury.

For large staghorn stones occupying the entire inner part of the kidney, combined combined endoscopic lithotripsyat the same time as percutaneous access (mini PKNL), which constitutes the crown of interventions for complex kidney stones, where the degree of complexity exceeds the capabilities of any other intervention.”

This combined method, the so-called ECIRrequires perfect synchronization of two experienced surgeons, where through a minimal opening the first mini-camera enters directly into the kidney, while at the same time the second mini-camera approaches the kidney endoscopically, ascending the ureter.

The stone, regardless of size, is completely sublimated with the help of holmium lasers the latest generation that the hospital has, and the patient returns home the next day bled.

“The international innovation of this method is its modification by a team of doctors in the supine position (and its name in Athens modified job titleafter the city of origin), thus avoiding all the pathological complications that have hitherto been required in the older position on the abdomen,” emphasizes the doctor.

He concludes: “This is another opportunity given to Greek patients who had to undergo laborious and complex open surgery or ineffective extracorporeal lithotripsy, by a group that also introduced new treatments for benign prostate tumors three years ago. hyperplasia Proceed as well as HoLEP, bringing a definitive solution to a problem that has plagued patients for years.”