Your Kidneys

Our urologists provide expert surgical care for kidney cancer or disease and treatment for painful kidney stones.

When healthy, your kidneys cleanse the blood of waste products by producing urine. They also balance your sodium and potassium, and provide hormones necessary to regulate blood pressure and red blood cell production.

Surgery may be required if the kidney has been irreparably damaged by infection, cysts or obstruction of urine outflow. Our urologists perform several surgeries:

Nephrectomy—Surgical removal of a kidney, sometimes with the attached adrenal gland and nearby lymph nodes (also called radical nephrectomy).
Partial nephrectomy—Removal of only diseased tissue or part of the kidney. This surgery is used if disease is limited to the very top or bottom of a kidney.
Laparoscopic nephrectomy—Removal of the kidney with only a few tiny incisions.

Kidney Stones

Kidney stones form when calcium or other minerals that usually dissolve in urine become so concentrated they crystallize and stick together. They can be treated several ways.

ESWL (extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy)—Sound waves are applied outside the skin to break a kidney stone into small pieces that can easily pass through the bladder.
Percutaneous nephrolithotripsy—Sound waves are delivered through a small incision in the back to break up the stones, which are then removed or broken into tiny pieces.
Uteroscopy—A thin viewing instrument is passed through the urethra into the bladder, and then into the ureter to the location of the kidney stone. It is then removed or broken into tiny fragments.
Open-stone surgery—Rare today, this surgery may be necessary for large stones caused by infection, an abnormality in the urinary system or if other treatments fail.

Need Help? Call 610-402-CARE (8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday) to talk to nurses and other experts who can help you find a doctor and more.

This page last updated 10/3/08 04:23 PM

Urology

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Lehigh Valley Hospital has campuses in Allentown and Bethlehem, Pa. and serves the Pennsylvania communities of Easton, Doylestown, Quakertown, Hazelton, Lehighton, Perkasie, Pottstown, Pottsville, Reading, Scranton, Wilkes Barre, Stroudsburg, and the Poconos and also Phillipsburg and Flemington, N.J., and western New Jersey. You don't have to travel to Philadelphia or New York for quality health care.