New Hydrogel Removes all Fragments of Kidney Stones

Jun, 2022 - By WMR

Researchers developed novel hydrogen that can remove the smallest of the fragments of kidney stones resulted from endoscopic laser treatment, instead of leaving them inside

Kidney stones are a common condition that affects several people all over the world. These kidney stones can be treated with medication, however, larger ones can require endoscopic laser treatment to break them down. Now scientists from Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials developed a new type of hydrogel that can remove the smallest of the fragments resulted from this laser procedure that can cause more issues when left inside.

Currently, to break down large kidney stone a procedure called laser lithotripsy is used in which doctors insert a long and thin endoscopic tube in the urethra to the point where the kidney tone is located. The tube consists of fiber optic camera to guide the surgeons and then with the use of an integrated laser, the surgeons burst the stone up into pieces. Then the surgeons remove large fragments of this stone and leave the smaller ones to pass naturally. However, these smaller fragments if left behind can cause more problems. Thus, the new hydrogel can be used further to remove these tiny pieces of busted kidney stones.

When a kidney stone is busted with laser doctors remove large fragments using normal methods. Then they have to dispense a specific blue-dyed liquid that flows around the remaining tiny fragments using endoscopy. Then a catalyst liquid of yellow color is added due to which the blue liquid turns into an elastic gel encompassing all the remaining fragments of kidney stones. This gel can be then taken out of the body using endoscopy through the urethra. The gel can be further dissolved in labs to release the fragments of the stones for further analysis.