Technology Is Helping Combat Kidney Stones: Brown Alpert Medical School Expert on Latest Innovations
Monday, February 03, 2020
Brown Alpert Medical School urology expert Dr. Simone Thavaseelan appeared on "Smart Health" GoLocal LIVE where she discussed the latest advancements in the treatment of kidney stones.
"It’s a very common disease — I see patients from all walks of life and ages and genders with kidney stones, it tends to be a very acute event in their lives. It’s usually one that’s associated with a lot of pain — most of my patients will describe it as worse than childbirth,” said Thavaseelan.
Thavaseelan is an associate professor of surgery in urology and at the Brown Warren Alpert Medical School, as well as the section chief of urology at the Providence VA Medical Center and the residency program director at Rhode Island Hospital. She is also a practicing physician at Brown Urology.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“Kidney stones tend to present very acutely and dramatically with significant pain usually in the back of the body, met with nausea and vomiting and then sometimes urinary symptoms — blood in the urine, or going more frequently or urgently. They can also mimic the symptoms of a urinary tract infection, having burning with urination or other discomfort while passing the urine,” she said. “Sometimes you don’t have any of those symptoms at all — we call those asymptomatic kidney stones. And then there are a number of health conditions such as diabetes, chronic bowel disease, previous surgeries like gastric bypass that can all put you at risk.”
Advancements in Treating Stones
"Based on imaging, if the stone is under 4 millimeters in size, that’s usually around an 85% chance of being able to pass," said Thavaseelan. "Now, that’s not without pain, grief, and discomfort, but probably without an operation. If imaging suggests they have a great chance of passing it on their own, we might try at-home medications, to help pass the stone with relaxation of the ureter."
"Urology has always been a field where we’ve incorporated technology and innovation. That’s been at the forefront of our surgery discipline," she added. "So starting from opening up a patient, to using miniaturized telescopes -- it's a really huge evolution in terms of recovery and speed of which we can get patients back to their normal lives. This last decade, for example, when I do surgery through the back, I’m now doing a procedure where we make a much smaller opening, and then not to leave tubes coming out of the back, and have a kind of quicker recovery or at least less time in the hospital."
Rising Temps a Factor
"There’s a lot of interest in trying to look at the relationship between climate change and rising temperature and kidney stone disease in general," said Thavaseelan. "I think the fundamental issue is one of dehydration and rising temperatures being associated with dehydration might predispose those patients who are at risk to make stones, to having a higher incidence in folks who suffer from kidney stones."
A specialist in endourology, Thavaseelan was nominated and chosen to be a Rhode Island Medical Society “4 under 40 Award” winner in 2019.
About Alpert Medical School -- and Smart Health
Since granting its first Doctor of Medicine degrees in 1975, the Warren Alpert Medical School has become a national leader in medical education and biomedical research.
By attracting first-class physicians and researchers to Rhode Island over the past four decades, the Medical School and its seven affiliated teaching hospitals have radically improved the state's health care environment, from health care policy to patient care.
"Smart Health" is a GoLocalProv.com segment featuring experts from The Warren Alpert Medical School GoLocal LIVE.
