Doctors at the Asian Institute of Nephrology and Urology (AINU) in Chennai have successfully removed a 12 mm-sized stone from the left kidney of a one-year-old boy, through a minimally invasive procedure, percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL).
Addressing the media on Wednesday, the doctors said the child, a native of Madurai, was brought in with the symptom of blood in the urine. Arun Kumar Balakrishnan, managing director and chief consultant urologist, AINU, Chennai, said that a CT scan showed the presence of a 12 mm-sized stone, which was sizeable for an infant.
Dr Balakrishnan said that while open surgery was not considered because of the child’s age, crushing the stone through a non-invasive procedure like shockwave lithotripsy was also ruled out, as there was a possibility that the crushed stones may not flow out through the urinary tract in a child, as they would in the case of an adult.
Hence, a mini PCNL was performed, which involved a tiny puncture of the kidney and the use of a paediatric nephroscope and laser technology to look at and fragment the stone, before clearing it. According to Dr. Balakrishnan, it was not common for the procedure to be used in an infant. He said, in this case, the procedure was done by keeping the child in a supine position and not in the conventional prone position, which made it even more rare.
Ramesh Babu, paediatric urologist, AINU, Chennai, said the stone has been sent for analysis and further tests will be conducted in the coming days to diagnose why there was increased accumulation of calcium in the child, which probably resulted in the formation of the stone. As the child is prone to such stone formations, annual monitoring will be required, he said.
