Kidney Stone Treatment Clinic

Our Kidney Stone Clinic takes a comprehensive approach focused on long-term kidney stone prevention and relief.  

Kidney Stone Prevention

We help patients manage their medications and make meaningful diet and fluid intake changes to help prevent and control kidney stone symptoms.

In many cases, this preventive approach has been shown to reduce or eliminate the recurrence of stones to avoid repeated stone removal procedures. Our kidney specialists work closely with our urologists to offer full-service care for kidney stones and other urological conditions related to kidney disease. 

Kidney Stone Treatments

Other treatments for kidney stones offered by the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin care team include: 

Lithotripsy – Also called extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (EWSL), lithotripsy uses shock waves to break up kidney stones from outside the body.

Ureteroscopy – Ureteroscopy is an endoscopic procedure to locate and treat kidney stones. A ureteroscope, a thin, flexible, lighted tube, is inserted into the urethra and passed to where the kidney stone is located. The kidney stone can be removed using a special instrument. This is often an outpatient procedure.

Percutaneous nephrolithotomy/nephrolithotripsy (tunnel surgery) – This is a surgical procedure used to treat large kidney stones or for patients who are not good candidates for endoscopic procedures or lithotripsy. A small incision is made in the patient’s back and a nephroscope (a miniature fiberoptic camera) and other instruments are threaded through the incision into the kidney and used to remove or break up the stone.

Ureterolithotomy or nephrolithotomy – In certain cases, a laparoscopic surgical procedure is appropriate to remove a patient’s kidney stones. In rare cases, these may be done as open surgical procedures.