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Medicanet 
conditions and treatments
kidney stones
Kidney Stone Diagnosis |
Kidney Stone DiagnosisFor the person to be diagnosed with the renal stone disease, a battery of tests needs to be conducted.
This may include getting the person’s medical history, the regular physical examination, laboratory and imaging tests. The patient may find it difficult to finish the physical exams especially if the sever pain is already experienced in the kidney area of the abdomen.
To detect the presence of blood and bacteria in the urine, a urinalysis will be necessary. Also included in the laboratory tests are CBC or the complete blood count, blood tests to evaluate whether the kidney is functioning well, calcium tests to detect hyperthyroidism, and BUN to detect dehydration.
Intravenous pyelogram or IVP, ultrasound, computed tomography or CT scan, and the retrograde pyelogram are some of the tests included in the imaging tests.
The Intravenous Pyelogram (IVP) will entail some x-rays wherein a contrasting dye or agent will be injected into the patient’s vein.
The contrasting agent will accumulate in the affected kidney where a blockage of a kidney stone is present. This process is said to accurately locate the area of the kidney stone although it may prove harmful sometimes when the patient shows allergic reaction to the contrast agent.
The ultrasound test utilizes sound waves of high frequency to develop pictures of the internal organs and their conditions.
Putting a patient under an ultrasound examination will help doctors discover stretched urinary tracts indicating the presence of kidney stones. Although it is most preferred to be used for pregnant women suffering from kidney stones, like other tests such as the CT scan, an ultrasound examination may find it hard to locate smaller kidney stones.
The computerized tomography, or more commonly known as CT scan, employs a scanner and a computer that will enable the examiner to come up with images of the patient’s urinary system.
The CT scan is likewise performed to determine other medical conditions such as bowel obstruction or a ruptured appendix. Although quick to be done, the CT scan may find it hard to detect smaller stones present in the kidney.
In a cystoscopy, a process wherein a telescopic instrument is inserted into a patient’s urethra, a contrast agent is injected into the opening of the ureter to the bladder to determine the location of a kidney stone.
Unlike the IVP, the process is safe as it eliminates the occurrence of allergic reactions as the contrasting agent does not make any contact with the bloodstream. Because the operation is painful though, it requires the use of anesthesia beforehand. Despite the fact that this process has been proven to be the most accurate, it is only resorted to when all other imaging tests are unsuccessful.
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