FAQs

Call if you:

• Have a temperature greater than 100 degrees F or chills.
• Find that the pain medicine is not reducing your pain.
• Cannot tolerate food or fluids.
• If you have excessive blood in the urine, which is typically red, thick and cannot see through it (like ketchup), or if you have blood clots in your urine that make it difficult to urinate, please contact your physician immediately.
• Some blood in the urine is normal after a PCNL procedure.

https://www.mykidneystone.com/content/dam/bostonscientific/uro-wh/patientSites/myKidneyStone/treatmentOptions/pcnl/PCNL-Patient-Brochure.pdf

There are steps to follow to prevent stones from coming back:

• Drink plenty of fluids.
• Restrict your sodium intake.
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Take medicine
• Some patients need medicine to help reduce their risk of developing another kidney stone.
• Make dietary changes, such as reducing the intake of soft drinks, animal protein and salt.

• Blood in the urine
• Drinking fluids helps to reduce blood clots from forming in your urine
• Feeling of fullness and a constant need to urinate (urgency and frequency)
• A burning sensation during urination or when you move about.
• Bladder muscle spasms.
• At a follow-up appointment, typically 4 to 14 days after the procedure, the doctor removes the stent. Patients are usually awake when a stent is removed. Doctor may apply a local anesthetic jelly to the opening of your urinary tract (urethra) before the procedure. If it has a string attached, the doctor pulls on the string to remove the stent. Or, doctor may use a small scope inserted into the bladder to take out the stent.

A ureteral stent is a small plastic tube that is placed in the urinary tract to help control swelling and allow the kidney to drain urine. The stent typically remains in your body for 4 to 24 days and is then removed during a follow-up appointment.

• Bloody urine is common.
• But if the bleeding increases significantly, contact doctor immediately or return to the emergency room for further evaluation.
• Empty the drainage bag before it gets full. If the bag no longer drains urine and you experience back pain, call your doctor immediately.
• The tube may be blocked or loose. You may notice leakage of urine around the tube and may need to change the dressing.It’s okay to shower with the bag. It can get wet. However, you must keep the incision site covered with a waterproof dressing.
• Several days after discharge from the hospital, you will go to the doctor’s office for removal of the tube. If you go home with a ureteral stent, your doctor will remove it during a follow-up appointment 4 to 14 days after your procedure.

A nephrostomy tube is a catheter placed in the kidney that connects to a drainage bag to collect urine outside of your body. The nephrostomy tube is usually removed prior to hospital discharge. Sometimes patients go home with the nephrostomy tube and it is removed several days later during a follow-up appointment.

Common side effects include:

• Nausea and occasional vomiting.
• Pain is common for the first 24 to 48 hours in your kidneys, abdomen, lower back and sides.
• Pain may increase when you urinate.
• Take medicine as prescribed.

• A PCNL typically lasts one to three hours.
• After patient is under anesthesia, the doctor makes a small incision in the back.
• The doctor inserts a protective sleeve called a sheath through patient’s back and into kidney.
• The doctor then passes a video scope called a nephroscope through the sheath to locate and remove the kidney stones.
• To help kidney heal and drain urine during the healing process, doctor may place a nephrostomy tube or a ureteral stent at the end of the procedure.
• Some patients require a second operation to remove all of the stone. If so, the nephrostomy tube and stent may be left in place until the next operation.

There are three important things to do before your procedure:

• Talk with your doctor. Let your doctor know all of your prescription medicines, vitamins and supplements, herbs and natural remedies, and over-the-counter drugs.
• Any known allergies you have to medicines and the contrast agent used in some X-rays.
• If you may be pregnant.

A percutaneous nephrolithotomy, or PCNL, is a kidney stone surgery for large or multiple stones. The doctor performs the surgery in a hospital operating room. It usually requires a hospital stay of one to two nights.