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Nephrology

Dialysis

Kidney dialysis patients often have other health problems that require hospitalization. During this time, their regular program of dialysis must be continued.

Are you making the right choices to help protect yourself from kidney stones?

Reviewed 2/1/2023

Kidney stones: True or false?

Every year, kidney stones send more than a half million people to emergency department. But you can take certain steps to help keep stones from forming. See if you know the facts with this quiz.

True or false: Drinking plenty of water is one of the best ways to help prevent kidney stones.

True. Kidney stones start forming when urine has too much waste in too little liquid. Staying hydrated helps you stay stone-free because it keeps your urine less concentrated with waste products.

True or false: Carrying extra pounds makes you more prone to stones.

True. Obesity does raise risk. Even so, don't try to drop pounds by resorting to an extreme diet, sweating excessively or using laxatives. Doing these things can also make you vulnerable to kidney stones.

True or false: Eating a lot of calcium can cause stones to form.

False. Although most kidney stones are in part made up of calcium compounds, a diet low in calcium actually raises your chance of winding up with a kidney stone.

True or false: Adding more salt to your diet can help protect you from kidney stones.

False. Curbing sodium lowers the risk of the most common kinds of kidney stones. So don't add salt when cooking, keep the shaker off your dinner table and check nutrition labels to see how much sodium is in food before buying it.

True or false: If you've already had a kidney stone, you don't need to worry about another.

False. If you've had one, you have about a 50% chance of developing another stone within 5 to 7 years. Changing your diet and taking certain medications can help you avoid future stones. Work with a doctor to figure out the best plan for you.

While these tips may help you prevent kidney stones, it's helpful to know how they form—and what having one feels like. Information is just a stone's throw away.

Keep learning about kidney stones

Sources

Iredell Memorial specializes in hemodialysis, which is the process of cleansing one's blood through the use of a hemodialyzer or "artificial kidney." Although not a cure for kidney failure, dialysis treatment performs functions typically done by a healthy kidney. Dialysis helps to keep one's body in balance by removing waste, salt and extra water from building up. Other benefits include the regulation of chemicals in the body and controlling the patient's blood pressure.

Iredell Memorial offers hemodialysis services to inpatients at the hands of specially trained registered nurses under the supervision of a nephrologist (a physician who specializes in diseases of the kidney). The dialysis department has four certified dialysis nurses (CDN) and two certified nephrology nurses (CNN). Both certifications require the applicant to complete two years of previous experience, numerous education hours and testing to obtain credentialing.

Lithotripsy

Lithotripsy is a medical procedure used to treat kidney stones. It may also be used to treat stones in other organs, such as the gallbladder or the liver. Kidney stones are collections of solid minerals that sometimes form in the kidneys. Healthy kidneys do not have these stonelike formations. Most stones pass out of the body naturally during urination.

A mobile lithotripsy unit provides patients with a local site for the removal of kidney stones through nonsurgical means.

Patients are prepared for, and recover from, lithotripsy in our Outpatient Surgery Department.