By Peter Gay
There is finally treatment available in Ottawa for he who passes the first stone.
Or the second.
Last month, the Ottawa Hospital treated the first patient suffering from kidney stones with a lithotripter. It took over 15 years to get the $900,000 device.
The lithotripter, coming from the Greek words meaning “stone crusher,” directs high frequency shock waves at the stone buildup and breaks it down into sand and small pieces.
These smaller particles can then be passed through the body’s urinary tract with greater ease.
“We were not able to provide the best possible care for these people until now,” says Dr. John Collins, chief of urology at the hospital. “It is long overdue.”
The Ottawa area has the highest incidence rate of kidney stones in Ontario. Collins says the hospital will treat close to 1,000 patients this year.
Collins says the hospital has had patients referred for the treatment from the Somerset West Community Health Centre and the Centretown Community Health Centre.
Kidney stones are caused by a build-up of calcium and other minerals. The minerals eventually form a stone, which must be passed through the urinary tract.
“Kidney stone pain is the worst pain you could possibly have. More than gallstones, more than giving birth. It requires strong narcotics to deal with the pain,” says Collins.
The initial treatment takes 45 minutes to an hour, and patients can return home that day and be back to normal in a couple of days.
“Over 90 per cent of the kidney stone cases we see can be treated with the lithotripter,” says Collins.
“If we save our patients any inconvenience and suffering we’ve done our job.”
Before the machine started operating at the hospital, patients would have to travel to London, Montreal or Toronto to receive lithotripsy.
Richard Stephens, a 50-year-old Orleans resident, was one of those patients. When he developed his first kidney stone in January 1999, he had to travel to Montreal to receive the treatment.
“All the arrangements that had to be made, including child care, getting someone to drive you back, it was such a headache,” he says.
Stephens was the first to receive the lithotripsy treatment for a second kidney stone at the Riverside campus of the Ottawa Hospital on March 6.
“It makes it so much easier to have the facilities in the city,” says Stephens, who has to return in mid-April for further treatment on other stones.
The machine was entirely funded through donations to the hospital.
The government has agreed to pay the $200,000 in annual operating costs for staff, supplies and maintenance.
“We’ve got a great machine here and it’s going to help a lot of people,” says Ron Vezina, a hospital spokesperson.