Researchers have found out that
the shock wave treatment provided to the kidney stones patients acts as an
invitation to other diseases like diabetes and hypertension. It has been
discovered that the shock wave treatment is having hazardous side effect as it
increases the risk of diabetes and hypertension in the patients given this
treatment.
Risk for diabetes was related to
the intensity of the treatment and quantity of the shock waves administered;
hypertension was related to treatment of stones in both kidneys. It is found out
that the shock waves lithotripsy uses shock waves to break up the treacherous or
closed kidney stone into smaller, sand like pieces which can be passed
spontaneously, usually within a month. The patient and the instrument that
releases the shock waves both are placed in a water bath. Water allows easier
conduction of the shock waves through the patient’s tissue and precise focus on
the kidney stone.
Mayo Clinic researchers report in
the April issue of the Journal of Urology says that patients who
undergo the procedure, called lithotr
ipsy, are nearly four times more likely to
develop diabetes and face a nearly 50 percent higher risk of high blood pressure
over the following decades than those getting alternative treatment.
The doctors say that they are not
hundred percent sure that the shock wave therapy would lead to theses diseases
in every patient but they have confirmed that there is very high correlation
between the two. The risk of developing diabetes after the shock wave treatment
is almost four times more than the risk among the patients being treated for
kidney stones with the help of medicines. Similarly the risk of developing
hypertension is one and one-half times more than the other group of patients
being treated by medicines.
According to the U.S. National
Institutes of Health, 10 percent of men and 5 percent of women are expected to
develop a kidney stone before the age of 70, and Mayo Clinic experts say that
about 1 million Americans have undergone lithotripsy so far. Further it is
stated that these many people have taken the risk of getting affected by the
other kinds of diseases which they can catch as a result of the treatment or
that are termed as the side effects of the treatment.
